SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – John Clarke will end his career where he has spent most of his life, at an Agriculture Canada research centre.
The son of a cereals and forage breeder, he grew up at the Ag Canada centre at Agassiz, B.C., and worked at Beaverlodge, Alta., during university before beginning his own long career as a cereals and durum breeder in Swift Current, Sask.
“Growing up with it exposed me to research,” said Clarke, who will retire by year’s end. “It’s been sort of a natural career path.”
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Clarke earned degrees from the universities of British Columbia and Saskatchewan, then began his career in cereals harvest research.
A temporary assignment in Australia piqued his interest in genetic improvements in crops and allowed him to learn more about wheat’s response to drought. They shaped his approach in dealing with genetic improvements.
“There’s no end of challenges in researching and breeding durum,” Clarke said of his work on a plant that he considers beautiful and rich in genetic diversity.
Clarke is associated with about 70 percent of the durums grown on the Prairies, from AC Avonlea and AC Navigator to AC Strongfield and AC Commander and more recently Eurostar and Brigade.
For the breeding work, Clarke received the federal government’s Public Service Award of Excellence and Gold Harvest Award.
Lanette Kuchenski, executive director of the Western Grains Research Foundation, called him a world-class researcher.
The foundation administers a checkoff from growers that funds crop research.
Under Clarke’s direction at Agriculture Canada, she said durum research took two paths. One improved agronomics of conventional varieties, helping farmers get higher yields, improved yellow colour, shorter and stronger straw and lower cadmium content.
The second stream developed extra strong, higher gluten durum for overseas markets, she said.
Most Canadian durum is exported.
Kuchenski said Clarke took the initiative when no stronger gluten varieties were in production.
“He was an innovative thinker when it came to market needs,” she said.
“What he was doing was meeting the demand and strengthening Canada’s position in the influential Italian market.”
Clarke said the producer checkoff and private sector funding helped maintain long-term breeding programs during a period of cutbacks.
“We need companies that are deriving revenue and have an interest in variety development,” he said.
Clarke called research a collaborative effort involving scientists, geneticists, technicians and labourers.
“It’s not just for me as I don’t do all the work myself,” he said.
Driving home this point, he visits field workers harvesting research plots, securing durum inside brown paper bags for further study.
As to his retirement, Clarke looks forward to having more time for family and hobbies like cycling, cooking, gardening and travel.
