Farm Credit Canada has invested $5 million into the accelerated breeding program at the Global Institute for Food Security.

FCC invests in breeding innovation

Getting acceptance for gene editing
The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology offers recommendations to ensure plant breeding tech continues to benefit agriculture
Reading Time: 2 minutes The rapid pace of change brought by genome editing tools has created many new opportunities for the agri-food industry, but they aren’t without challenges. Regulatory hurdles must be considered, and the tools must benefit society as well as the agriculture industry.

Feds invest in research to promote more diverse crop rotations
The federal government is investing $5,733,852 million in funding to advance soybean, corn and oat research and promote diverse crop rotations across Canada.

Alberta researcher blazes gene editing trail
AAFC launches gene edited wheat trials at Lethbridge research farm
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s only early spring, but things are already heating up in southern Alberta. Research scientist John Laurie has just planted the federal government’s first plots of gene-edited wheat at the Lethbridge Research and Development Centre. These lines are grown in a greenhouse after being successfully propagated in growth chambers. Laurie is excited for where his […] Read more

Alberta barley breeding centre relaunched
"Western Crop Innovations will carry on the Field Crop Development Centre’s substantial legacy, ensuring its work is addressing the issues farmers are facing in the fields," said RJ Sigurdson, Alberta's minister of agriculture and irrigation in a news release Wednesday.

Soybean acres may soon stabilize in Manitoba
Volatile yields, acres and weather have kept soy on a roller-coaster since 2017
There's an emerging consensus in Manitoba that soybean acres in the province could soon stabilize at around 1.5 to 1.9 million.

Where are public sector gene editing projects?
Regulatory differences and lack of funding constrain gene editing in academic research
Reading Time: 4 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – In 2022, Health Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced that crop varieties developed with gene editing technology will not be subject to the same regulatory requirements as genetically modified organisms. Though many within the agriculture industry praised the decision as a win for crop breeders, and Canadians more generally, some academic […] Read more

When it comes to new varieties, there’s a need for speed, says breeder
Creating the equivalent of a 22-hour day can speed up variety development by six times
Reading Time: 4 minutes Combining ‘speed breeding’ with new genomic tools will be able to deliver big dividends for farmers in the coming years, says a plant breeder using the accelerated breeding technique. “It really highlights that we can bring these technologies together to improve genetic gain in the crops of the future,” said Lee Hickey, an associate professor […] Read more