Yield improvements exceed world average | Reduction in funding for public breeding programs reckless, says scientist
Wheat yields on western Canadian farms have increased at an average rate of 1.4 percent per year since the early 1990s, says a study co-authored by a pair of Agriculture Canada scientists.
That rate of gain is well above the worldwide average of 1.16 percent per year, suggesting Canadian farmers have accrued greater gains in productivity than farmers in other parts of the world, thanks to the adoption of new production practices and the introduction of improved wheat cultivars, the majority of which were developed by Agriculture Canada scientists.
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The report, which is due to be published in an upcoming edition of the Canadian Journal of Plant Science, provides evidence that Canada’s publicly funded wheat breeding programs have served farmers well over the past four decades, says Julian Thomas, a recently retired Agriculture Canada scientist who co-authored the report.
It also refutes the notion that Agriculture Canada scientists and Canadian wheat farmers have failed to keep pace with productivity gains realized elsewhere.
The report comes as Agriculture Canada pushes ahead with plans to end Ottawa’s role in the developing, testing and commercializing new wheat varieties and leave those functions to private sector seed companies.
“The productivity (of Canada’s public breeding programs) in terms of yield improvement has been as good or better than the world average and on-farm yields have been as good or better than the world average,” said Thomas.
“So I think Canadian farmers have been well served by public breeding programs and in my opinion, there is no secure replacement.”
The report, entitled Rates of Yield Gain of Hard Red Spring Wheat in Western Canada, used yield data from Manitoba crop insurance and Statistics Canada to determine yield gains on western Canadian farms.
It concluded that on-farm yields across the Prairies rose at an average rate of 1.4 percent per year between 1991 and 2012.
The report also used data contained in provincial seed guides to examine yield gains in controlled plots that used standardized production practices to compare the performance of new wheat cultivars to check varieties.
The performance of new wheat cultivars was assessed during two periods: 1972-90 and 1991-2012.
Those periods were chosen be-cause investments in breeding increased substantially in the early 1990s with the introduction of a wheat research checkoff that allowed public breeding programs to hire new research staff, buy additional facilities and acquire new machinery.
Wheat yields in controlled plots rose by .33 percent per year in the period before the checkoff.
However, yields after 1991 rose by .67 percent, slightly higher than the world average of .62 percent per year.
“The joint increase in yield and in the number of recommended cultivars suggests that sustained yield gain was associated with intensified breeding activity,” the report stated.
Thomas said the study supports the argument that a reduction in funding for public breeding programs will have a negative impact on farm profitability. It also refutes opinions ex-pressed in the farm media and by others that yield gains realized in Canada are lagging.
“Opinions published in the farming press that rates of yield gain among western Canadian wheat cultivars are comparatively low were not supported by evidence presented here,” the report said.
Thomas is one of several Agriculture Canada scientists who retired earlier this year from Agriculture Canada’s Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg.
Ottawa announced last year that the centre will close as part of a government effort to reduce spending.
Since that announcement, a number of prominent Agriculture Canada scientists, including respected wheat breeders Stephen Fox and Danny Singh have left to pursue opportunities in the private sector.
Thomas called Ottawa’s decision to reduce its involvement in public wheat breeding shortsighted, suggesting it will have costly repercussions for farmers in Western Canada.
“They (the Harper government) do have the right to do this … they were elected, after all, but whether or not it was ill-advised is another matter,” he said. “It’s not that I am opposed to private breeding,” he added. “I simply feel that the transition (from a public funding model to a private model) should have been more gradual and more secure.”
