Harvey Voldeng, a honorary research associate at Agriculture Canada, has received the Seed of the Year award for the Maple Series of soybeans.
SeCan and the University of Guelph presented the award Dec. 14.
The Seed of the Year competition shines a light on a field crop that has been publicly developed in Canada.
Maple Arrow was the first variety in the series and was originally registered in 1976. It was designed to mature and yield well in short growing seasons such as Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba.
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Producers had previously not had a successful soybean crop to grow in rotation with cereals and corn.
The Maple Glen variety became the dominant soybean variety not long after registration. More than 40,000 tonnes were sold over the next 15 years and grown on more than 1.5 million acres.
Production has increased eight times since the 1970s, and many early maturing varieties today can be genetically linked back to the Maple Series.
The soybean variety has been grown on more than a million acres in Western Canada.
Farm cash receipts in 2014 were more than $2.2 billion on more than 5.56 million soybean acres.
Soybean research continues to improve nutritional characteristics, yield, disease-resistance and marketability.
Although retired, Voldeng is currently researching spring wheat for bread.
