Ontario quinoa industry optimization

藜麦是一种原产于南美的高营养伪谷类食品。大部分藜麦是由自给自足的农民种植的，但人们对藜麦作为高质量营养食物来源的兴趣正在增加，反过来，对充分发展的商业规模生产系统的需求也很高。安大略省和加拿大的藜麦市场在过去五年中显著增长，预计达到1900万磅。在2016年底之前进口到加拿大(加拿大统计局，2016年)。对纯度、质量和从南美获得藜麦的担忧，再加上北美对藜麦作为种子和功能食品配料的需求越来越高，促使研究人员进一步探索在加拿大实现这种替代伪谷物作物商业化生产所需的农艺条件。安大略省的Katan Kitchens公司在过去六年里一直在研究安大略省的藜麦生产。在为加拿大的生产开发了农艺实践，并通过自然育种技术开发了独特的藜麦品种后，该公司现在已将其新的、高度营养的藜麦种子于2016年推向初步市场。在与圭尔夫大学研究人员的合作中，他们的主要重点是开发安大略省藜麦产业的价值链，以便继续向价值链利益相关者证实经济模式，并从这种新作物的开发中生产出新的、高质量的产品。为了继续发展加拿大的藜麦产业，需要对育种和农学最佳实践进行进一步研究，以便在安大略省提供稳定、一致的产量，重点是高度营养的藜麦种子最终产品。此外，还有机会将藜麦加工的副产品--皂苷作为单独的最终产品进行开发。纯度、可追溯性、监测和跟踪模型也正在得到证实，以供未来使用。该项目的成功将成为未来新的高价值作物和产品的典范，有助于提高加拿大的经济多样性和高质量食品的领先地位。

Quinoa is a highly nutritious pseudocereal originating from South America. The large majority of quinoa is grown by subsistence farmers, but interest in quinoa as a high quality nutritious food source is increasing, and in turn the need for fully-developed commercial scale production systems is high. The quinoa market in Ontario and Canada has grown significantly over the past five years, to an expected 19 M lbs. imported into Canada by the end of 2016 (Stats Canada, 2016). Concerns with purity, quality and access to quinoa from South America, in combination with the increasingly high demand in North America for quinoa as a seed and functional food ingredient, has triggered researchers to further pursue the agronomic conditions required to achieve commercial production of this alternative pseudo-cereal crop across Canada.Katan Kitchens, an Ontario based company, has spent the past six years researching quinoa production in Ontario. Having developed agronomic practices for Canadian production, as well as having developed a unique quinoa variety through natural breeding techniques, the company has now brought their new, highly nutritious quinoa seed to preliminary markets in 2016. In partnerships with University of Guelph researchers, their main focus is to develop the value chain for the quinoa industry in Ontario in order to continue to substantiate the economic model to value chain stakeholders, and produce new, high quality products from the development of this new crop. To continue development of the quinoa industry in Canada, further research on breeding and agronomic best practices is required in order to provide stable, consistent yields within Ontario, with a focus on a highly nutritious quinoa seed end product. In addition, there is an opportunity to develop saponins, a by product of quinoa processing, as a separate end product. Purity, traceability, monitoring and tracking models are also being substantiated for future use. The success of this project will be a model for future new, high value crops and products in enhancing Canada's economic diversity and high quality foods leadership position.