REAP-Canada Activities

REAP-Canada provides research, consulting, development, and outreach services to both domestic and international rural communities to help them meet the challenges of developing socially just and ecologically sound production of food, fibre, and fuel.

	Bioenergy and Climate Change Bioenergy Systems Development REAP-Canada has been conducting research on agricultural biomass feedstocks and determining their suitability as pelleted and briquetted biofuels for space heating applications. Recent studies have focused on switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), identified to have great potential to thrive on marginal farmlands in North America, Europe, and China.
	Agrarian Community Development REAP-Canada has worked with rural agrarian communities to address the interrelated challenges faced by impoverished small farmers in developing nations through the implementation of the Agro-Ecological Village (AEV) Model. This model is a holistic, participatory approach to environmentally sustainable rural development that simultaneously addresses a variety of issues including social development, gender equity, poverty mitigation, agriculture and the environment.
	Modernizing Biofuel Use in Household Cooking There is an increasing need to displace fossil fuels and unsustainable woodfuels used for household cooking to minimize the dependency on expensive fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. REAP-Canada has been conducting research and promoting the use of agricultural residues and appropriate biofuel cooking technologies in rural communities to reduce household cooking costs and improve indoor air quality.
	Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Through the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism Increasing concerns about global warming encouraged REAP-Canada to explore opportunities to minimize carbon emissions to help Canada meet its Kyoto targets. REAP-Canada develops, with partners, strategies to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions for a variety of applications, including using biomass for heating and cooking applications and ecological crop production.
	On-Farm Research and Development REAP-Canada works directly with farmers both domestically and internationally to develop sustainable farming systems. Since 1986, the organization has researched and implemented a diversity of solutions to food, fibre, and energy production challenges through the selection and preservation of locally adapted seeds and varieties and the resource efficient production of crops, vegetables, fruit trees, and livestock.
	Agronomic Studies Studies include crop and cultivar assessments, crop establishment methods, weed control strategies, cover crops, manure management strategies, reduced tillage practices and agricultural systems development to reduce input requirements and support ecological processes such as biological nitrogen fixation.
	Plant Selection and Breeding REAP-Canada has been working to support farmer's groups on participatory plant breeding and material replication programs focusing on the ecological improvement of rice, sugarcane and corn in developing countries. In Canada, REAP-Canada has been working on a switchgrass plant improvement program for biofuel and fibre applications since 1992.
	Agri-Fibre Supply Systems REAP-Canada has identified that switchgrass can partially replace the use of wood in making competitive and high quality paper products. Supplying agricultural biomass for the pulp and paper markets involves a large volume of raw material to be grown, harvested, stored and transported. REAP-Canada can provide an assessment of the best options available for any specific crop, region or end-use.

(C) 2004 REAP-Canada