Chronica Horticulturae volume 49 number 2 ... - Acta Horticulturae

disciplines. This allows for a flexible and adaptable
research program where staff and
resources can be re-organised as outcomes are
met and the needs of the industry change.
However, the organisation’s success cannot be
driven by cross-disciplinary scientific research
alone, but rather by brilliant science working
hand-in-hand with market delivery.
Collaboration is another fundamental component
upon which the Vineland model is based.
Collaboration not only accelerates results, but
amplifies the ability to deliver research outcomes
that will be relevant, applicable and provide
competitive advantages. Vineland has
been busy building a collaborative network
connecting academic, government and industry
organisations. Research collaboration is the primary
purpose of this network but it is also
expanding to include business and commercialisation
partners.
A CENTURY OF SUCCESS
Vineland has been a centre for horticultural
research in one form or another for over one
hundred years and the future development of
Vineland will be built on the successes of the
past.
In the early years of the last century, a fledgling
horticultural industry was developing along the
south shore of Lake Ontario. Local growers
A century of horticultural research at Vineland. (Clockwise from top left) Horticulture
Experiment Station 1948; wine chemist Ralph Crowther in the Horticultural Products Laboratory,
1960s; farm workers, 1963; plant breeder Oliver Bradt and farm manager Peter Proctor in a
Vineland peach orchard, late 1960s.
Wayne Brown, greenhouse floriculture specialist, oversees the poinsettia trials at Vineland that
showcase upcoming varieties for the holiday season.
were having some success experimenting with
different fruit varieties but had been campaigning
for many years for a local fruit research station.
At that time, most of the research was
being conducted in different geographic and
climatic zones and wasn’t necessarily relevant
to the Niagara growers. In 1906, a local resident,
Moses Rittenhouse made a generous gift
of land, “[…] for experimental work on tender
fruit.” The Ontario provincial government
pounced on the opportunity with a purchase of
additional land and the Horticultural
Experiment Station became a reality.
Buildings were constructed, roads built and the
first experimental plots of fruits and vegetables
were planted. In the first few years, more than
one thousand varieties were planted for testing.
This included over one hundred varieties each
of apples, peaches, beans, peas and numerous
other fruits and vegetables.
Initially research was focussed on fruit cultivar
trials and breeding, but later expanded to
include pest control, soil management, vegetables,
mushrooms and ornamentals as well as
post harvest aspects of horticulture such as processing,
storage, biochemistry and microbiology.
New facilities were gradually added including
state-of-the-art greenhouses, a grape substation
and a Federal agriculture laboratory for
pest management research. Satellite stations,
with scientific and technology consultants,
were established in nearby rural areas so that
the full range of services at Vineland would be
readily available and easily accessible to local
growers. As an indication of this expansion and
enhanced status, in 1966 the name of the station
was changed to the Horticultural Research
Institute of Ontario (HRIO). This institute
provided the fruit and vegetable growers with a
new centralised source for information and
CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 49 • NUMBER 2 • 2009 • 15