Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

This new partnership between the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University andEarthfort Environmental (EFE) will investigate the effects of microbial enrichment products developed by EFEon plant establishment and health in horticultural soil and soiless mixes and engineered green roof growingmedia. The objective of this collaborative research is to compare plant establishment, incidence of disease,microorganism populations and growing medium properties in treated and untreated plots to identifyopportunities for the development of new microbial enrichment products customized for these media types.The horticulture industry and stakeholders will benefit from access to a sustainable biological approach toimproving engineered grow media. The company will benefit from collaboration with Kwantlen to measure theeffects of Earthfort products in diverse horticultural conditions and to identify the most successful soil microbecommunity for use in new products. Kwantlen will directly benefit from this new industry connection bytraining students, graduates and faculty in applied research, increase the capacity of the Institute for SustainableHorticulture to assist local companies in R&D, and enhance its polytechnic mandate.