Five-year funding | Premier hopes money will spur more partnerships, increase competitiveness
New funding from the Saskatchewan government will be channeled directly into wheat research with the hope of spurring greater public-private partnerships.
Premier Brad Wall announced at Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Wheat Summit in Saskatoon last week that the government will distribute $10 million over five years.
The move is a “no brainer,” said Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan president Norm Hall. “Anything that will improve the bottom line of farmers is definitely a good thing.”
The funds will be added to the agriculture ministry’s Agriculture Development Fund and will be available to researchers and private companies proposing work that will lead to new wheat varieties and improvements in yields, quality and disease and weather tolerance.
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Annual research funding for wheat hovers at the $20 million level in Canada, summit attendees were told, which lags far behind investment in other crops both within Canada and abroad.
Speakers said a significant investment of more than $80 million is required to remain competitive with countries like Australia. Wheat yields are growing at less than one percent, they said, which is good for current investment levels but not enough to keep up with projected international demand.
Projections have shown Canadian production needs to grow by 35 percent over the next decade to maintain current market share.
“What we have shown is that consistently with the investment dollars that we have, we’ve been able to improve yields,” said Curtis Pozniak of the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre.
“So it’s not difficult to imagine that with more investment, more time, more innovation, that we’ll be able to push the envelope even further.”
It’s hoped that this funding will attract interest from the private sector and boost innovation in wheat, an important crop for the province.
It maintains a pivotal role in crop rotations but has seen smaller investment, and fewer innovations, than agribusiness favourites such as canola or pulses.
“We’ve seen the success with other crops in this province as research and focus has been applied from governments, the private sector and producers,” said Wall, referring to new varieties and the expansion of acres experienced by those commodities over the last 40 years.
“It’s a strength for our province. We want to build the next economy, the innovation economy, on the strengths of what we do well today.… We’re very good at agriculture. So we’re going to partner with companies and producers and really focus on wheat to be a part of the solution in terms of worldwide food security.”
Gerrid Gust, chair of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, said status quo funding isn’t an option.
