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New Centre for Plant Health poised to be innovation hub

Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Anna-Mary Schmidt inspecting a grapevine at the Centre for Plant Health in Sidney, B.C.

The Centre for Plant Health sits on Vancouver Island in Sidney, B.C. It is getting a brand-new state-of-the-art facility – a well-deserved development for a laboratory and quarantine station that has been operating since 1912.

The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, was in Sidney on April 3, 2018, to announce the Government of Canada's $80 million investment to modernize the Centre for Plant Health over the next five years.

This commitment was made in Budget 2017, and reflects the Government's increasing investment in science and innovation. The new world-class plant health facility is being developed in collaboration with industry, provincial governments and academic partners and will be used to research and share science that supports plant health.

The Centre for Plant Health's mission has always been to protect Canada's natural resources and support advancements in Canadian agriculture.

"Every time you sip some B.C. wine, or eat a strawberry, the chances are somebody from the CFIA who works at the Centre for Plant Health here in Sidney was involved with getting that great product to market," Minister MacAulay says.

The state-of-the-art facility is poised to become an innovation hub, supporting partnering to explore new ideas and opportunities focussing on improved DNA sequencing – technology that will help identify plant diseases more quickly and accurately than ever before.

Once built, the new Centre will support the Government's goal for Canadian agricultural exports to reach $75 billion by 2025.

More than a 100 years of growth

In 1912, the Centre for Plant Health opened as the Saanichton Experimental Station. Its isolated location determined its suitability as a plant quarantine site, which helped prevent the possible spread of infection, disease and viruses.

Vancouver Island offers a climate suited to diverse fruit crops and ornamental plants. It is also absent of wild virus hosts as well as many insects and other organisms that can transmit viruses.

By 1965, the Saanichton Experimental Station was renamed the Saanichton Research Station and became the only post-entry plant quarantine program in Canada. The Station protected Canada's agricultural industry from the disease risks of imported plant material. This role established the Station as an integral part of Canada's national plant health program.

During the 1970s, the Station worked with the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture to develop biological control agents for greenhouses and launched a joint pilot program that gave British Columbia's farmers large-scale commercial biological control of spider mites in greenhouses. Biological controls are a large component of the integrated pest management systems in greenhouses and in the field, and offer less need for pesticides to control unwanted pests.

By 1980, the Saanichton Research Station was renamed the Saanichton Research and Plant Quarantine Station to reflect its role. Over time, the scientists developed solutions to detect and eliminate plant viruses, including economically impactful pathogens such as plum pox virus. The diagnostic testing unit continues to be involved in testing for many viruses through national surveys.

In 1997, when the CFIA was created, the Station was placed under the jurisdiction of the Agency and renamed the Centre for Plant Health. The Centre also began using genetic testing to detect viruses and to amplify and copy the genetic material from viruses for closer analysis. This revolutionized detecting plant diseases by offering testing that is considered by many to be more accurate than previous methods.

Next chapter – the future is bright

The Centre for Plant Health is recognized internationally for its expertise in post-entry quarantine and many members of the Centre's team are recognized as international experts by plant protection standard-setting bodies.

Today, the Centre for Plant Health continues to explore genomics through modern approaches such as next generation sequencing – technology that can sequence billions of DNA strands in parallel, detecting multiple diseases from multiple plant samples in one test. This provides greater insight into plant diseases that can devastate crops and livelihoods, and is focussed on tree fruit, grapevines and small fruit that contributes to the Canadian fruit industry valued at more than $1 billion.

The new Centre for Plant Health will provide modern facilities and infrastructure to support new generations of scientists and scientific tools, collaboration and expertise to safeguard Canada's plants as well as the health and economic prosperity of all Canadians.

While the new build is going on, the current Centre will continue to operate and provide the same high level of service as always.

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