Cropping Systems Specialist Joins NSAC

Dr. Joe Omielan, crop physiologist and agronomist, has joined the Nova Scotia Agricultural College as a research professor in cropping systems.

Dr. Omielan will work with industry to initiate a research and development program in cropping systems analysis. Industry research and development priorities include improved rotations, nutrient cycling and crop nutrition, leading to more sustainable systems of cropping within overall farming systems.

Dr. Omielan has extensive experience in crop physiology, genetics, agronomy and whole farm analysis, most recently as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Guelph.

A three-year commitment of $25,000 from East Coast Commodities, matched by the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Marketing, has enabled the Nova Scotia Agricultural College to establish this research position in the department of plant science.

"By combining government and industry resources with those at the college, we can successfully address the agronomy needs of the agriculture industry," said Ed Lorraine, Minister of Agriculture and Marketing. "The research chairs we have established with the college and the industry in the last few years have been very successful and I am sure more will be explored in the future."

"This is another example of how partnership arrangements with industry have enabled us to assemble resources to address emerging research needs," said Dr. Garth Coffin, principal at the agricultural college.

Similar arrangements ongoing at the college include:
professorships in blueberry research (in partnership with the Wild Blueberry Producers of Nova Scotia and Oxford Frozen Foods Ltd); carrot research (in partnership with Oxford Frozen Foods); potato research (in partnership with McCain Foods Ltd); and turfgrass research (in partnership with the Atlantic Turf Research Foundation).

"This is an investment in the future of the grain and forage industry," said A. Findlay MacRae, president of East Coast Commodities Inc. "This position will fill a gap in research on our industry's priorities, and will complement and enhance research for other field crops."