$2.5 million for the creation of the Réseau québécois de recherche en agriculture durable

On October 8th, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT), along with its partner the ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation (MAPAQ) announced the creation of the Réseau québécois de recherche en agriculture durable (RQRAD), a flagship measure of the Plan d’agriculture durable 2020-2030 (PAD).

Coordinated by four co-holders with widely recognized expertise in sustainable agriculture—McGill Professor of Agricultural Economics Paul Thomassin, Jacques Brodeur of the Université de Montréal, Jean Caron of Université Laval, and Alain N Rousseau of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique—the creation of RQRAD is rooted in the government's commitment to focus on agriculture to produce high quality food in an environmentally responsible manner. The RQRAD will make a key contribution to the work and efforts in this area. This grant of $2.5 million over five years follows a call for proposals issued last April.

“One of the important aspects of sustainable development is the financial sustainability of the sector and incorporating the environment into decision-making,” said Thomassin. “As a collaborative network of researchers, which includes economists, social scientists, and biophysical scientists, RQRAD will encourage inter-disciplinary thinking. The network hopes to suggest alternative practices that will ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector. The development of these new practices and institutions is essential to address major global issues such as climate change.”

Read the full article from The McGill Newsroom.