Mission and Team

Food from Thought Agricultural Systems for a Healthy Planet

Food from Thought: Agricultural Systems for a Healthy Planet is a research program led by the University of Guelph, funded in part by a $76.6-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. The goal of the program is to increase the sustainability and productivity of global food production by leveraging the considered power of leading-edge data science, agri-food research, and biodiversity science. Food from Thought will position Canada as a global leader in the development of innovative solutions that improve both the sustainability and productivity of food systems at global, landscape, and micro levels.

The Food from Thought research program includes leading-edge projects in livestock research, crop sciences, pathogens and food safety, biodiversity research, ecosystem services, and integrated food systems research.

Vision and Missions

Our vision is to transform our understanding of the ecosystems we depend on for food, at scales that range from planetary to microcosmic. At the same time, we want to increase the capacity, sustainability and safety of food production systems without undermining environmental health, ecosystem services or livestock health and welfare.

Food from Thought will create and implement next-generation information management systems, decision support tools, and digital applications that intelligently collect, analyze, and apply massive amounts of data from crops, livestock and the environment. This new digital agricultural research platform will provide solutions to identify food fraud, reduce food safety risks, refine pesticide and fertilizer use, monitor soil and crop health, predict and manage animal health, control pathogens, and track emerging infectious disease threats.

Food from Thought has three distinct missions:

Global Scale Mission

Transforming agriculture’s impact on biodiversity.

Landscape Scale Mission

Sustainably intensifying production.

Micro-scale Mission

Enhancing food and livestock health.

Research funding for Food from Thought is provided in part by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund

Canada First Research Excellence Fund