Grant: Alliance Grants

This funding supports the preparation of a full application for the NSERC-SSHRC Sustainable agriculture initiative of a multidisciplinary team in collaboration with ALC Bio Innovations. The full proposal will tackle dynamic bio-organic delivery systems for both plant and animal nutrition for the resilience of the Canadian agricultural sector. DyBio2Farm sees large fit with this initiative because 1. It covers the way of action of a comprehensive plant supplement that may reduce amendments and have potential for soil depollution. 2. It may contribute to capture carbon effectively (e.g. by reducing soil disturbance by inputting less fertilizer and storing carbon in soil by leveraging the biomass component of bio-organic inoculants). 3. It develops metrics to better understand and report on environmental and climate impacts of bio-organic delivery systems, including socio-economics, as it considers life cycle analysis (LCA) and farmers' openness to implement innovative fertilizers into their regular practice. It further considers regulatory affairs bearings. 4. Probiotic-based (organic) delivery systems can be implemented for direct livestock nutrition and evidence suggests that, as supplements, they reduce CH4 emissions, while preserving cattle's health and aiding growth. The full application develops and tests improved CH4 measurements tools and models for emissions from cattle. The requested preparatory funding covers the salary of a part-time post-doc to draft the grant proposal and coordinate the multidisciplinary writing of the academic team and the industrial partner. It also covers the professional fees of a technical writer. Trips for four team members aimed at meeting local farmers and local communities' advisors in Saskatchewan and Alberta are also accounted for. This ill make the academic team more aware of the challenges related to soil quality, microclimate, and will establish the basis for a possible forthcoming knowledge transfer.