A biosystems engineering professor with the University of Manitoba expects a collaborative grain storage research agreement involving Canada and China to result in improved market access for Canadian grains in China, according to UniversityNews.Org. The U of M and four institutes in China have partnered in the establishment of a Canada- China research centre for stored grain ecosystems.
Dr. Digvir Jayas, the U of M’s vice-president of research and professor of biosystems engineering, says under the agreement two research facilities are being developed in China. Jayas says facilities will be located near Beijing and the other at the Nanjing University of Finance and Economics campus. Facilities will mirror those already in use at the U of M’s Canadian Wheat Board Centre for Grain Storage Research.
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“We have provided significant input in the design of these facilities. The major advantage for Canada is we sell our grain to China and we would build a strong relationship with China and hopefully they would continue to then buy our grain,” he says. “We would do some of the projects which would involve how our grain would behave under Chinese conditions. That information then could be used by our Canadian industry to market the Canadian grain into China and also on the product development side, so how our grain could be used for development of products which are commonly consumed in China.”
Jayas says research conducted at these new facilities should provide recommendations to help reduce the grain storage losses, which, in China, add up to about 50 million tonnes — almost as much grain as Canada produces each year.
