Pulses are racing at the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. Long-term financial support has been announced for the centre through a provincial farm organization.
The Saskatchewan Pulse Crop Development Board is providing $340,000 annually for the next five years, along with 320 acres of land for pulse crop breeding programs.
“We have a world class pulse breeding program at the Crop Development Centre, but have suffered from a chronic shortage of long term funding commitments,” said CDC director Gordon Rowland.
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“Breeding has come a long way in the pulse industry here in Saskatchewan, but the necessary long term funding that gets the kind of new variety results farmers have been needing hasn’t been there. We are committed to making sure this work will be done and to the benefit of Saskatchewan growers,” said Gordon Cresswell, chair of the pulse crop board and Tisdale area farmer.
In exchange for the long-term support, the CDC will be assigning distribution rights for all pulse varieties developed at the centre to the pulse crop board.
“The board will be releasing pulse varieties to growers so that they are widely available at a fair and reasonable cost,” said Cresswell.
Board funding grants have supported breeding at the CDC in the past and have provided interim funding for research between other grant sources. When combined with the newly announced federal-provincial $2.6 million endowment to the centre, long-term plans for pulse breeding in the province can now be established, say researchers.
