The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA) has announced that Gilles Bélanger is recipient of the 2013 CFGA Leadership Award.

Bélanger is a Quebec-based research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in the area of physiology and agronomy of forage crops.

“Dr. Bélanger’s contribution to improving the productivity and adaptation of forages in Eastern Canada has been outstanding,” said CFGA chair Doug Wray.

The CFGA said Bélanger has significantly contributed to the development of innovations related to growth and quality of forage crops, winter survival of perennial crops, potential impact of climate change to forage crops, diagnostic methods of nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency, potential of perennial crops for biomass production on marginal lands and the benefits of legume-grass mixtures.

He has been instrumental in the development of cropping practices to increase the level of non-structural carbohydrates in forage crops, to produce forages for dry cows, and to improve the digestibility of forage crops while maintaining their yield and persistence. He developed the first model of growth and nutritive value of timothy (CATIMO), and plants-based diagnostic tools for phosphorus and nitrogen in forage grasses.

Bélanger will be presented with the award Dec. 10 at the CFGA conference in Olds, Alta.