Man. Crop Alliance courts seed companies for the first hybrids to come out of its confection sunflower breeding program
The Manitoba Crop Alliance’s confection sunflower breeding program has yielded its first registered hybrids.
The hybrids, MCA-359239 and MCA-359306, have been officially registered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. On Oct. 15, the alliance put licences for the varieties out to tender.
“This is a made-in-Manitoba success story and it’s an exciting time for our program,” said alliance chief operating officer Darcelle Graham.
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The farm group supports the breeding program by leveraging member dollars to access government funding needed to continue research. Its efforts represent the only dedicated sunflower breeding program in Canada.
The program started in 2011 through the National Sunflower Association of Canada. When the national group amalgamated with four other commodity organizations in 2020 to form the Manitoba Crop Alliance, the sunflower breeding program came under the new association’s purview.
Prior to 2020, Graham was executive director of the national sunflower association.
Sunflowers have always had certain benefits for growers, Graham said. They’re a longer-season crop that can spread out harvest. Their large tap roots can draw nutrients and moisture from deep in the soil, and their return on investment potential is strong.
“It’s a great rotational crop in that respect, but one of the biggest challenges for our growers has always been access to genetics.”
The current popular varieties are old, she noted.
In 2023, more than 60 per cent of the insured confection sunflower acres in Manitoba were seeded to the hybrid 6946 DMR, according to data from the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation. That variety was registered in 2010.
An older variety, 6946, was registered in 1995 and accounted for about 23 per cent of Manitoba’s 17,300 insured confection sunflower acres last year.
Graham said farmers have been looking for sunflower varieties that will address the needs of modern farms.
“We partnered with Michael Hagan, a breeder down in Fargo (North Dakota), and he’s exclusively breeding for the Canadian marketplace to make sure that the hybrids are adaptable here to Canada,” said Graham.
Both of the new hybrids have many desirable traits. They have a good disease package, are early maturing and high yielding, have Group 2 herbicide resistance to help with in-season control of broadleaf weeds and they’re able to tolerate high winds.
“That’s essentially what makes them beneficial to grow,” said Graham.
But it’s not just about yield and crop protection, especially for hyper-selective confection sunflower markets.
“There really isn’t a lot of processing that happens with a confectionery sunflower, aside from roasting and maybe salting it,” said Graham. “The specifications buyers are looking for are pretty particular.”
Buyers, mostly from the U.S., look at the stripe on the hull, size of kernels within the shell and flavour.
“These two hybrids do meet those specifications,” said Graham, adding that both performed well with consumer testing.
To promote the milestone for the breeding program, the alliance has created a video that highlights its new hybrids for CTV’s Field to Forks.
The campaign, which will be supplemented by radio and digital ads through Bell Media, will focus on the made-in-Manitoba angle of the hybrids and the breeding program’s role in positioning sunflowers as a nutritious snack for consumers and a productive and sustainable crop for Manitoba farmers. The campaign will run until Nov. 10.
“We buy those spots to promote the crop types that we grow, and this year, we highlighted our sunflower breeding program,” said Graham.
The licence tendering window closes Nov. 15. After that, the board will review offers and select a seed company to bring the varieties to market.
“We likely won’t see them for sale for another year or two,” said Graham.
