Research Projects

Optimizing spraying through exclusion nets.

Developing and assessing the planting of flower strips in orchard inter-rows as an alternative to the application of insecticides.

Project studying ways to maximize workforce productivity in strawberry production.

This project seeks to reduce the use of chemical insecticides in orchards by controlling apple maggot populations using mass trapping.

Development of a growing out-of-soil organic raspberries in high tunnels protocol in a profitable and competitive manner with a view to selling products locally or to large retail chains.

This project will modify current protocols with the addition of labile carbon to preserve or rapidly restore the activity of beneficial microorganisms.

As part of this project, the soil water status at a chosen blueberry farm will be monitored at 40 spots over the course of the production year. We will seek to identify the relationship between water extraction, physicochemical and environmental factors, and yield levels that could help explain yield variability.

Project initiated to review the knowledge on the fungicide resistance of various pathogens to provide a preliminary assessment of the economic impacts of fungicide resistance.

The model’s predictions will be used to calibrate the dose of a thinning agent (ANA) to be applied in two plots, one treated with carbaryl and the other without, over a two-year period.

This project’s aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of HARVANTA® 50SL to control the cranberry weevil, the blackheaded fireworm and the cranberry fruitworm.

The project measures the nitrogen contribution of sawdust mulch.

This project assesse the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on the efficacy of spring flooding to developp a strategy of control for the blackheaded fireworm

This update will incorporate information from more recent scientific articles on Spotted Wing Drosophila

Exclusion nets have proven to be effective against nearly all of these insect pests, which means that it’s possible to develop apple growing practices in Québec that are not only neonicotinoid free, but also devoid of all pesticides (including acaricides, given that mite problems are a consequence of broad-spectrum insecticide use). Although the net exclusion microsystem studied in Québec since 2012 has demonstrated its effectiveness in controlling insect pests, some issues remain to be studied before it can be unreservedly recommended. Among these are the handling times for the nets, i.e., installation/removal and opening/closing, and the system’s profitability and durability over the long haul for various cultivars.

Developing a fast and sensitive molecular detection methodology able to accurately identify raspberry and strawberry viruses.