Plant breeder receives Order of Merit
Pierre Hucl, a professor and plant breeder in the University of Saskatchewan’s plant sciences department and Crop Development Centre, has been named a 2023 Saskatchewan Order of Merit recipient in recognition of his contributions to crop development and research.
Hucl’s specializes in bread wheat, specialty wheat and canaryseed breeding and genetics.
His work has resulted in the release of more than 40 new crop varieties.
Hucl, who held the Strategic Research Program Chair in Canada Western Red Spring Wheat, Specialty Wheats and Canaryseed Breeding and Genetics for 33 years, developed and released the first hairless canaryseed variety.
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His research has also focused on breeding wheat varieties that are highly resistant to fusarium head blight .
For nearly 25 years, Hucl served as an adviser for the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association, earning him honorary life memberships in both the provincial organization and the Canadian Seed Growers Association.
He also participated in several management boards, including the Crop Production Show executive committee, the Prairie Grain Development Committee and the Canaryseed Association of Canada.
Hucl was awarded the Canadian Seed Trade Association’s Plant Breeding and Genetics Award in 2019, and in 2014 he was honoured with a SABEX award for his innovation in the agricultural industry.
In 2017, he was named a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Agronomy and this past June he received the Distinguished Agronomist Award from the same society. He also received the U of S agriculture college’s Research Excellence Award for his research in wheat and canaryseed breeding.
Junior Angus Stockman Award presented
Cache McLerie recently received this year’s Canadian Angus Foundation Junior Angus Stockman Award.
McLerie owns and operates Black Chrome Livestock near Innisfail, Alta., along with his sister, Jill, who received the Junior Angus Stockman Award in 2020. This is the first time two siblings have received the same honour.
He grew up on a large commercial cow-calf operation that used artificial insemination and genetic enhancement to improve the herd. That knowledge and experience, combined with his exposure to and involvement in the Canadian Junior Angus program, led McLerie to pursue purebred cattle.
He received a diploma in agriculture management majoring in commerce and livestock nutrition from Olds College. In 2019, Black Chrome Livestock became guest consignors in the Ultra/Czech – Mate Bull Sale, where it sold its first bulls.
This year, Black Chrome Livestock had its first online bull sale.
