Chia: a new crop for organic production in Québec
Description
Because of its high omega content, chia is one of the foods that we now call "super food" or functional food. Chia, as an opportunity crop, can help make organic farms more diversified and profitable. This two-year project, conducted at the Organic Agriculture Innovation Platform, compared the effect of three seeding dates and three seeding rates on chia yields. Pests and diseases that could damage the new crop were also monitored. The project included an evaluation of production costs and an analysis of the economic and technical feasibility of growing chia.
Objective(s)
- Determine the potential of chia as a crop in Québec
- Test the feasibility of using early-blooming chia varieties developed in Kentucky,
- Identify best cropping practices
- Conduct a technical and economic analysis to check whether this crop would be profitable in Québec
From 2015 to 2018
Project duration
Field crops
Activity areas
Organic farming
Service
Québec-grown organic chia could attain yields exceeding those in Argentina.
Partners
Growing Forward 2 | Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation du Québec - Innov'Action Programme | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | Agri-Fusion 2000
This may interest you
Subsoiling and temporary drainage in soils with low permeability
The project evaluated and compared the effectiveness of two types of subsoil plows (mounted on a bulldozer or a tractor) operated parallel and perpendicular to the tile drains to improve soil drainage conditions and productivity compared to control plots.
Researcher: Marc-Olivier Gasser
Testing biofungicides against white mold in soybean crops – an economic analysis
Testing the efficacy of four biofungicides against Sclerotinia in soybeans.
Researcher: Luc Belzile
Validating and implementing a predictive model of soybean sclerotinia stem rot in Québec
A better understanding of risk factors that favour the development of this disease will help Québec farmers adopt more environmentally friendly and cost-effective control strategies.
Researcher: Marc-Olivier Gasser