Sask. gov’t partners to fund wheat research

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Published: June 7, 2013

The Saskatchewan government and three companies are teaming up to fund wheat research projects designed to improve yields and competitiveness.

The projects are part of a $5 million commitment from the province over the next five years.

Last week’s announcement from agriculture minister Lyle Stewart revealed spending of $2.7 million in provincial funds; a call for proposals for the remaining $2.3 million will be held in the fall.

Dow AgroSciences and the province will each spend $1.25 million on a project to improve food quality and agronomic performance of wheat varieties.

Bayer CropScience and the province are sharing the cost of a project looking at the durability of stripe rust disease resistance in elite Crop Development Centre wheat varieties using both fungicides and genetics. Each partner will spend $800,000.

University of Saskatchewan professors Curtis Pozniak and Randy Kutcher, respectively, will lead the projects.

Secan will use traditional and molecular breeding methods to develop wheat disease screening and quality testing capacity. The partners will each contribute $665,000. Agriculture Canada biotechnology Ron Knox will head this project.

About the author

Karen Briere

Karen Briere

Karen Briere grew up in Canora, Sask. where her family had a grain and cattle operation. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Regina and has spent more than 30 years covering agriculture from the Western Producer’s Regina bureau.

explore

Stories from our other publications