The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, today announced that a contract has been awarded for construction of a new $8.4-million greenhouse and growth facility at the Central Experimental Farm (CEF) in Ottawa. McDonald Brothers Construction will build the Integrated Growth Facility (IGF), which is expected to be completed in March 2008.

"Canada's New Government wants to make sure its scientists have the facilities they need to deliver state-of-the-art research and innovation to our sector," said Minister Strahl. "The Integrated Growth Facility demonstrates Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's commitment to ensuring the Central Experimental Farm's future as a research centre."

The IGF will support and enhance the various types of research currently being done at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, including plant genetics, food safety and quality, environmental health, and bioproducts and bioprocesses.

The new facility will contain research greenhouses and growth chamber spaces, all with computer-controlled environments, designed to adjust to a diverse range of conditions.

In addition, the consolidation of greenhouse operations and other indoor plant growth facilities into the modern IGF will result in energy conservation and more efficient use of resources.

The designation in 1998 of the CEF as a National Historic Site reflects the important place it forms in the landscape of the National Capital Region. The new IGF is fully in accord with this designation, while serving to reinvigorate the research function of the CEF.