Another $10 million will be poured into research projects aimed at developing new lines of high-value canola over the next five years, the result of a renewed funding deal between Dow AgroSciences Canada and the National Research Council’s Plant Biotechnology Institute.
The agreement, announced at a May 4 signing ceremony at the institute’s Saskatoon headquarters, represents the continuation of a previous five-year funding arrangement that expired in 2004.
Under the new arrangement, Dow will contribute $6.75 million and the NRC will provide $3.75 million.
Officials with both organizations say ongoing research into developing new specialty canola varieties is vital if the crop is to remain competitive in world oilseed markets.
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“We anticipate that our competitors globally, soybeans in particular, are changing the profile of their oil and meal,” said Dow president Rick Smith. “The challenge is, can we stay ahead of the curve on developments from a health standpoint?”
The stated goals of the five-year research agreement include diversifying oilseed crops to produce new oil profiles for industry and health, improving canola meal for applications in the animal feed industry and developing plant lines that produce valuable proteins such as vaccines.
Smith said he expects that a number of new varieties that have been developed as a result of the 10 year collaboration will be close to commercial release by the time the five-year agreement ends in 2010.
Wilf Keller, a research director at the biotechnology institute, said developing specialty canola is a high priority for the industry.
“That’s a growth area because we’re all interested in improved nutrition and higher quality and eliminating problems associated with transfat formation,” he said, adding that will mean research aimed at changing the oil’s quality profile to pick up desirable nutritional traits.
Another area of emphasis will be to increase the oil content of canola seed to boost oil production on a per acre basis.
On the meal side, the goal will be to lower fibre content and reduce the presence of anti-nutritional substances that limit canola’s feed value.
“We’d like to be able to open up the frontier to diversifying the uses and quality of canola meal,” said Keller, including the development of a human food market.
“One could speculate there will be a canola tofu type of industry at some time. That will require a lot of intensive work but it’s a possibility.”
