Martine Dorais

Martine Dorais, is a researcher with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada specializing in plant physiology. She is recognized around the world for her research on organic greenhouse production.

Dorais has authored over 200 academic publications, which have been cited over 4,300 times, resulting in an h-index and i10-index of 32 and 78 respectively.

Biography Dorais is a researcher in agronomy. Originally from Quebec's Eastern Townships region, Dorais studied agronomy at Laval University, spending her summers working at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She completed a Ph.D. in the physiology of greenhouse crops grown under artificial light at Laval University Dorais continued her training at the University of British Columbia, where she did three post-doctorates in mineral nutrition, biochemistry and ginseng.

Career It was during her post-doctoral studies in Vancouver that Dorais discovered organic farming. "Vancouver was influenced by California culture; organic food was already widely available in grocery stores." The philosophy of organic farming immediately sparked her interest. Dorais spent the early years of her career developing knowledge on medicinal plant physiology—first with Les serres Mirabel Inc., and then with Medicago to study the effect of light—and later on Christmas tree physiology. She conducted extensive research on the sustainable production of greenhouse tomatoes, developing cultural practices and quality measurement tools in parallel with the development of an organic production system for greenhouses and tunnels and the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

In late 2015, Dorais took the helm of a berry production research team in Agassiz and conducted research on the environmental impact of the use of nanoparticles in agriculture. Sink metabolism in tomato fruit: IV. Genetic and biochemical analysis of sucrose accumulation. S Yelle, RT Chetelat, M Dorais, JW DeVerna, AB Bennett. Plant Physiology 95 (4), 1026-1035. 1991. The use of supplemental lighting for vegetable crop production: light intensity, crop response, nutrition, crop management, cultural practices. M Dorais. Canadian Greenhouse Conference 9. 2003. Effects of supplemental light duration on greenhouse tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plants and fruit yields. DA Demers, M Dorais, CH Wien, A Gosselin. Scientia Horticulturae 74 (4), 295-306. 1998.