At times, Digvir Jayas’s vision for the future of prairie agriculture seems quixotic.
He talks of people moving from cities to towns as high-paying jobs revitalize rural economies.
Small niche farms may produce designer flax, straw and hemp, their fibres made into bio-composites and used in aerospace and manufacturing industries.
High-starch winter wheat may be converted into biogas that someday may heat and electrify our homes.
Yet Digvir Jayas, associate vice-president of research at the University of Manitoba, doesn’t say these things will be, only that they might be, if government, industry, universities and communities strategically invest in the emerging potential.
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Jayas explained his agricultural vision at the University of Saskatchewan on Nov. 15 in a public talk called Food, Fuel and Pharming: Agricultural
Research and the Future of Rural Canada.
Robert Gordon, a winter resident of Saskatoon and summer farmer from Eston, Sask., said he came to the talk because of the topic.
“We’re being depopulated by the oil industry and lack of economic opportunity, and I was wondering if there was something in this presentation that would lend some light to other opportunities in rural Saskatchewan,” Gordon said.
One of Jayas’s predictions is that biofuel is poised to become a significant source of energy. As petroleum gives way to biofuel, so too will new bioproducts derived from biomass that will be manufactured to meet the needs of industry and society.
A variety of industries will use bioproducts, Jayas said, including manufacturers of buses, construction materials and contact lenses.
He pointed to the Composites Innovation Centre, a Manitoba-based non-profit corporation funded by industry and government, as evidence of the emergence of new bioproducts. The centre is researching how to turn straw, hemp and flax fibres into bio-composite materials. Other work focuses on the aerospace, transportation and civil infrastructure sectors.
Jayas said researchers are also developing new nutraceutical products and new functional food.
A nutraceutical is a health or medicinal product derived from food. A popular example is omega 3 capsules derived from flax seed.
A functional food is one that claims to have medicinal value, such as bread made with omega 3 rich flax oil.
The recently established Richardson Centre For Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals at the University of Manitoba is studying the potential medicinal properties of a variety of prairie-produced crops, including cereals, pulses, oilseeds, berries, cherries and native plants.
Research is also looking at how to turn prairie-grown products into viable biofuel. Jayas mentioned the Clean Energy Centre, a Manitoba-based group that is trying to develop a winter wheat with less protein and more starch.
“That (wheat) basically becomes a highly efficient crop for producing ethanol,” he said.
The results of these innovations could have a major effect on the rural landscape, Jayas said.
Specialized crops could make small-scale niche farms economically viable. Value-added processing would be located near crop production centres and would be expected to trigger a rise in farm income.
Since highly qualified personnel would be required to work in these processing facilities, high-paying rural jobs could result. In turn, outmigration from cities to towns would revitalize community life and bolster rural economies.
“It think it’s a little academic at this point,” Gordon said when asked about the presentation. But overall, he liked Jayas’s outlook.
“We need more men like (Jayas) who are thinking along this line because I see great potential in rural Saskatchewan for something other than just growing wheat and barley.”
