Southern Ontario’s Vineland Research and Innovation Centre plans to pilot the use of low-level radio waves to prevent frost and freezing damage in fruit crops.
The not-for-profit Niagara-region centre announced Monday it will work with U.S. defense tech firm Raytheon Co., which will install its prototype Tempwave system in the centre’s vineyard.
Tempwave is to be used to transmit microwaves from towers set up in an orchard or vineyard, changing the energy balance that slows cooling to prevent freezing damage, the centre said.
Read Also
Field-by-field mapping could improve yield, productivity predictions
University of Saskatchewan researchers are using field border mapping to collect data on field variability, including problematic weeds, and to predict things like yields.
“This new prototype technology will help to ensure Ontario vineyards and orchards are protected when temperatures fall below freezing and jeopardize tender fruit and grape production,” Vineland CEO Jim Brandle said in the centre’s release Monday.
“Shortly farmers will have access to an effective tool for managing their operations no matter what the weather.”
Raytheon will install the system at Vineland, prepare it for operation and support its initial testing during a four-month period, the centre and company said in separate releases.
The agreement with Vineland is part of a broader program for Raytheon, dubbed “Mission Innovation,” to study and apply its technical expertise to “global challenges” outside the Boston-area company’s usual core business interests: defense, homeland security and “other government markets.”
“The agreement leverages Raytheon’s expertise in radio frequency applications with the Canadian research center’s mandate to introduce innovative horticulture technologies,” Lee Silvestre, vice-president for Mission Innovation at Raytheon, said in the company’s release.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Ontario’s ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs are putting up some funding for the microwave project through the Innovation and Science suite of Growing Forward, the federal/provincial ag policy funding framework.
