Enjoying Your Christmas Tree Longer
November 27th, 2017
Celebrating the SMART Christmas Tree success, Dalhousie’s Truro Agricultural Campus welcomed the Honourable Navdeep Bains (below), Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Bill Casey, Member of Parliament for Cumberland-Colchester, James DeLong, President of the SMART Christmas Tree Research Cooperative Limited and Richard Florizone, president of Dalhousie University.
The National Christmas Tree Research Centre (CRC), funded in large part through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Atlantic Innovation Fund, has licensed three commercial products and technologies, the SMART Balsam Fir TEchnologies, to help sustain Atlantic Canada’s Christmas tree and greenery industry.
Developed in a true industry partnership by Raj Lada (Faculty of Agriculture professor and the CRC’s director) and his team, the SMART-er trees boast a full, sturdy architecture; unique fragrance; blue-green needles; and the ability to retain its needles longer (up to three months when handled properly).
The research is being conducted at Dalhousie Agricultural campus in partnership with the Christmas Tree Council of Nova Scotia, SMART Christmas Tree Research Cooperative, Christmas tree producers; NS Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, NB Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture; NL Department of Forestry and Agriculture; and University of New Brunswick, under the leadership and direction of Dr. Lada.
“This opportunity has already begun to enhance the economic growth of the balsam fir industry with market growth. I believe the true potential of the Cooperatives’ success and all that has been achieved, will only be truly realized by generations to come.” said James DeLong, President of the SMART Christmas Tree Research Cooperative Limited.
The CRC has provided a great wealth of new and improved knowledge and technologies for the industry, including 13 disclosures to the university; three commercial products and technologies; over 20 published, peer-reviewed original scientific articles; over 40 conference abstracts, posters and presentations; and the training of trained undergraduate students, graduate students, PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, research assistants and research associates — a total of more than 50 totaling person-years of building human capacity for the region.
Congratulations to Dalhousie University and all of its partners.
To read the full article on Dal News, click here.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash