A group of Prairie crop associations have pledged $1.8 million to continue barley variety development at the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre.
“The keys to past success within the CDC barley breeding program have been the skilled staff, our in-house malt and molecular marker labs and the ability to evaluate large numbers of breeding lines,” said centre’s director, Curtis Pozniak, in a news release.
“This CBRC funding will support these pillars moving forward.”
The Canadian Barley Research Coalition (CBRC) is a non-profit organization that funds barley research. The organization, founded in 2020, is a collaboration between the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, Alberta Grains and the Manitoba Crop Alliance.
The Crop Development Centre has a track record of developing high-performance barley varieties, said Manitoba Crop Alliance chair Jonothan Hodson in the news release. The coalition’s support for the breeding program will ensure barley remains profitable and productive for Western Canadian farmers.
