The Canadian dairy industry supported $7.5 billion in total net farm cash receipts and $16.8 billion in dairy products in 2021, contributing $35 billion to the national GDP. At the same time, dairy accounts for around 1.2-1.4 per cent of total emissions—primarily via methane and nitrous oxide (36 per cent of all livestock emissions). The industry has committed to a Dairy Net-Zero Pledge by 2050. The project goal is to integrate cutting-edge knowledge in genomics and nutrition to deliver a mitigation roadmap for greenhouse gas (GHG) management in dairy production. This includes a comprehensive farm toolbox which will be used to quantify emissions and apply nutritional and genetic strategies to reduce GHG, as well as to inform policy. The roadmap will allow a 55 per cent reduction in GHG emissions from Canadian dairy (30-40 per cent from nutrition and 30 per cent from genomic strategies) at an estimated value of $338 million, with additional potential reduction in beef. A further $100 million in annual net savings is expected through correlated genetic gain in production efficiency and enhanced animal welfare. The shared roadmap for dairy production will inform and align producers, industry stakeholders and policymakers.

The demand for dietary protein is growing with the global population. Since intensive beef farming contributes significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere, cell-cultivated meat is emerging as a complementary protein source to meet this increasing demand with potentially a small fraction of the environmental impact. Similar to how yoghurt and beer are made, these products are cultivated directly from biological cells in a nutrient-rich medium in stainless steel bioreactors. Formation of meat-like textures are triggered by seeding cells into organic scaffolds. To reach cost parity with animal-based meat, however, the cultivating process must become more efficient and less expensive. This project will use genomic, proteomic, metabolomic and GE3LS (genomics and its ethical, environmental, economic, legal and social aspects) approaches to address technical, economic and social barriers to scaling and commercialization of cell-cultivated meat in Canadian and export markets while minimizing the carbon footprint of production. It will do so by creating a catalogue of cells grown from tiny muscle biopsies of beef cattle to find the cell types best suited for cultivated meat production. This will make cell-cultivated meat nutritious and affordable, with the potential to incorporate agricultural by-products into certain stages of production. The project will optimize bioreactor conditions for growing large numbers of cells and develop protein scaffolds that replicate the taste and texture of animal meat to produce meat patty and slab meat (steak-like) prototypes. The project will bring academia, industry, government and NGOs together in a Canadian Cultivated Meat Consortium. This collaboration will enable rapid mobilization of new knowledge, resulting in efficient implementation by Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises. This research will also have wider applications in the production of cell-cultivated chicken, fish and seafood.

Many root-associated microbes play an essential role in the way plants extract nutrients from the soil, grow and resist stressors. The BENEFIT project will use genomics to identify Canadian soil microbes, examine their interaction with cereals, brassicas and legumes, develop strains that interact better with crops, and help improve crop productivity. The project team will also investigate genetic factors within the microbes that help them survive the processes used to manufacture, store and deliver bioinoculants. It will also investigate the economics, environmental impacts and social factors associated with inoculant production, application and uptake. By improving crop nutrition and stress resistance using microbes, the requirement for high fertilizer levels, whose production and usage lead to greenhouse gas emissions, will be significantly reduced.