Valérie Gravel obtained her MSc and PhD in Plant Science in 2007 from Université Laval (Québec, QC) following undergraduate studies in Agronomy at the same institution. Between 2007 and 2012, she completed postdoctoral research at Agriculture and AgriFood Canada (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and at Wageningen University (The Netherlands). In 2012, she became an assistant professor at the Nova Scotia Agriculture College (Truro, NS) in collaboration with the Organic Agriculture Center of Canada (OACC). She joined McGill University in 2013 as an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Science. She currently serves as vice-president of the Canadian Society for Horticultural Science (CSHS) and as a board member of the Quebec Society for Plant Protection (QSPP) as well as Plant Canada. She is also a member of Ordre des Agronomes du Québec.

Canadian and Quebec consumers have become more aware of potential health benefits of consuming pesticide-free nutritious produce with elevated concentrations of health-related compounds. As growing conditions have a major impact on how well horticultural plants grow, my work focusses on understanding how sustainable production practices influence the overall quality of fresh produce.