Thousands of beans grown for University of Guelph research projects that might have gone to waste will instead provide nutritious meals to the community through donations to the local food bank.
Dr. Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi, a dry bean breeder and computational biologist in the Ontario Agricultural College, grows nearly 100,000 plants each year for his projects at the Ontario Crops Research Centre in Elora. But, only a few thousand of those plants are needed for U of G's breeding programs.
"The rest, thousands of beautiful, colourful and nutritious beans full of potential, are typically left in the field," Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi says. "Rather than letting them go unused, we're giving them a new purpose."
That new purpose is two-fold: the harvested beans will be donated to the Guelph Food Bank, and used to create art for a United Way fundraiser.
While beans may seem like an unusual art medium, there are plenty of different colours and classes to use for the project, including navy, black, kidney, cranberry, yellow, pinto and adzuki beans.
U of G partners with United Way for an annual fundraising campaign, last year collecting more than $460,000. Funds go towards community programs, including food security initiatives, housing programs, youth service and other efforts across Guelph, Wellington and Dufferin.
Reducing food waste through donations
This year marks the first major bean donation, and Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi plans to continue donating beans to local organizations in the future.
Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi leads the Dry Bean Breeding and Computational Biology Program, with his research focusing on improving dry bean yield, stress resilience and quality traits. To accelerate this work, his team created BeanGPT, an online platform using AI to help breeders choose the best bean varietals for their fields.
Last year, Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi hosted a bean gleaning event that brought researchers together to collect pods and work in the fields. Through that event, his team realized the yield of usable beans was low, as many were cracked, split or otherwise unusable.
"While the event succeeded in bringing people together, it also showed us the need to rethink our approach if we wanted to maximize both our efficiency and impact," he says.
That's why they're now focused on harvesting and cleaning all beans to make sure nothing is left out in the field, and bagging them up for the donation to the food bank.
"This will reduce annual waste from our breeding programs and find new ways to support our community," he explains.
A similar bean donation was made in 2021 by University Professor Emeritus Dr. Peter Pauls.
Helping farmers grow better beans
U of G researchers have worked on advancing dry bean varieties for more than 40 years, combining modern technologies with breeding expertise to develop resilient, high-quality beans for producers in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
Every year, the breeding program makes over 250 crosses to improve genetic diversity. The researchers work closely with bean producers and industry groups to develop high-yielding plants that can resist disease and adapt to changing climates, encouraging a competitive agricultural sector.
U of G's dry bean breeding program is made possible by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a collaboration between the Government of Ontario and the University of Guelph. The Ontario Crops Research Centre is owned by Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario and is managed by U of G through the Alliance.
The United Way event will take place Oct. 30 from 12 to 1 p.m. in the Crop Science Building.
