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As part of our renewed commitment under Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) conducts the priority-setting process on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA).
Vineland continues to be responsible for collecting and synthesizing research priorities from various horticultural groups. These priorities feed into OMAFA’s priority setting process, which is used by researchers across the province to address the gaps and needs of Ontario’s horticultural sector.
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Over the past three years, Vineland has undertaken a comprehensive review of the horticulture research priority setting process, engaging commodity groups and industry stakeholders to evaluate previous approaches and identify opportunities for improvement. This work has resulted in a refined priority setting framework for 2026-2029 that reflects the recommendations generated through extensive sector consultation and analysis.
The updated process is designed to streamline engagement, improve the usability of outcomes, and better capture high-level priorities across commodities, sectors, and cross-cutting themes. It balances the needs of small, medium, and large crop commodity groups while considering short, medium, and long-term research priorities. The process also strengthens alignment with regional, provincial, and federal funding and granting opportunities to support coordinated investment in research and innovation. In addition, a consolidated network of key contacts, including researchers, industry organizations, and sector experts, has been developed as a resource to support the horticulture sector’s sustainability, competitiveness, and growth.
- Year 1 (2023-2024) focused on evaluating stakeholder experiences with the previous research priority setting process and identifying priority areas to inform future sector consultations.
- Year 2 (2024-2025) involved consultations with Ontario’s horticultural commodity groups. All 16 commodity groups were invited to participate, and 13 consultations were completed. Feedback gathered during this phase provided valuable insights into sector priorities, concerns, and opportunities for improving the priority setting approach.
- Year 3 (2025-2026) focused on validating and refining recommendations through additional industry engagement and applying the findings from the previous two years to establish the new research priority setting process. This work culminated in the development of the 2026-2029 research priority framework and priority list, providing a structured, collaborative, and future-focused approach to guiding horticultural research investments over the next three years.
Ontario Horticulture Research Priority Setting Reports
Year 1 Summary: 5 Year review
In Year One, a review of Ontario’s Horticultural Research Priority Reports from 2017 to 2023 examined priorities from 16 crop groups. The analysis grouped priorities into five main themes: commercial and market research, pest and disease management, sustainability, technology, and variety development.
The full report can be found here:
Year 2 Summary
Emergent Themes
Four common themes emerged from consultations across crop groups, highlighting shared challenges in setting and advancing research priorities for 2023-2026. These challenges include research priorities that are too broad and unchanging, limitations around funding and research capacity, and representation of crop groups within the research priorities.
The full report can be found here:
Year 3 Summary: Recommendations review and analysis
Establishing the new priority setting process and priority list for 2026-2029.
Overall, the 2026–2029 priorities reflect both continuity and improvement: they remain grounded in long-standing sector needs while providing a more structured, ranked, and representative framework for action. The report reinforces the value of maintaining a three-year cycle, complemented by annual check-ins, to reduce consultation burden, align more effectively with research and funding timelines, and create stronger conditions for coordinated, system-level responses to shared horticulture challenges.
The full report can be found here: