University of Alberta researcher Habibur Rahman believes crossing canola with genes from its extended family will result in a host of desirable traits in canola.

Building a better canola with broccoli

Traits from related species may punch up canola diversity

Reading Time: 2 minutes There’s little doubt that canola is a powerhouse crop. Nationwide, it covered nearly 22.1 million acres last year, more than 99 per cent of it on the Prairies. The Canola Council of Canada puts its economic contribution at nearly $30 billion a year. A University of Alberta researcher, backed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering […] Read more

Rob Duncan, a canola breeder at the University of Manitoba, used genomic selection to design these canola plants. Breeders can select desired traits from across the entire canola genome.

Genome selection finds next canola superstars

Sequencing the canola genome in 2014 paved the way for researchers to be more precise when developing new varieties

Reading Time: 7 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – In the 2020 Western Hockey League bantam draft, the Regina Pats had the first overall pick. They selected Connor Bedard. It was an easy pick and a good one. Bedard recorded 100 points in the 2021-22 WHL season and 143 points last year. In June, the Chicago Blackhawks selected Bedard with the […] Read more


“You go into it thinking wheat is wheat is wheat — and you find out that’s not the case.”

Unique program tells the rest of the story on wheat

Alberta farmers say the Combine to Customer program made them realize how big the value chain is

Reading Time: 3 minutes The farming life can be a lonely one, and it’s all too easy to forget you’re part of a large network bringing food to the tables of families around the world. But that realization strikes producers who have taken the Combine to Customer course put on by Cereals Canada. “I now have a whole new […] Read more

Breeders are poised to make gains in developing drought tolerant wheat, but it’s complicated and there’s no magic bullet, says Harpinder Randhawa, a breeder at Agriculture Canada’s Lethbridge research centre.

The quest for drought-tolerant wheat heats up

A hotter, drier future looms but breeding for drought tolerance is a complicated business

Reading Time: 5 minutes The push to breed drought-resistant wheat has taken on new urgency as dry times become more common and more severe. “Drought is big on everybody’s minds these days,” said Harpinder Randhawa, a wheat breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge research centre. “Especially in Western Canada, we rely heavily on the natural water availability of […] Read more


File photo of Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaking to media in Winnipeg in March 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Bibeau says government committed to federal plant breeding

Seed royalty consultations stalled

The Canadian government is committed to plant breeding, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told members of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation on Tuesday. Some farmers and seed industry officials suspect Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) variety development work, along with many other programs, will be on the chopping block post-COVID-19 as the government tackles its […] Read more



Ward Middleton, an organic grain and oilseed farmer from Morinville, was one of the farmers who joined the participatory plant-breeding trials, selecting wheat grown on his farm for breeding.

Hands-on plant breeding: Farmers help select new plant lines

Since 2011, organic farmers from across Canada have been making their own breeding selections

Reading Time: 4 minutes You might call it DIY cereal breeding. Since 2011, plant-breeding researchers have collaborated with organic farmers in a breeding program in which the producers select lines from trials on their own farms. Normally, a breeder goes through a plot, and selects the best spikes, heads or plants according to their breeding goals. “The participatory plant-breeding […] Read more

Cereal breeding is pretty much entirely done by public researchers, with the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan.

Alberta Wheat and Barley cool to latest seed royalty scheme

There are now three options on the table but all offer ‘more questions than answers,’ says groups’ GM

Reading Time: 4 minutes A third option has been thrust into the seed royalty review fray — but whether it will be the answer farmers are looking for remains to be seen. “At this stage, there are still more questions than answers about all of the models that have been put forward,” said Tom Steve, general manager of Alberta […] Read more


Canadian plant approval process lengthy but worthwhile

Canadian plant approval process lengthy but worthwhile

Reading Time: < 1 minute In Canada, plant varieties with traits that are new to the environment and have the potential to impact human and environmental health are called “novel traits” and are regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. They must be approved by the CFIA as well as Health Canada (in the case of food products) prior to […] Read more

Many farmers don’t want to pay royalties on cereal seed, but the seed sector and groups like Alberta Wheat say more funding is needed to boost variety development.

Seed royalties:  We need to talk — some more

Speakers say more funding is needed for cereal breeding, but how to do that is up in the air

Reading Time: 5 minutes Something needs to be done to boost funding for cereal breeding, but kicking the contentious issue of seed royalties down the road seems to be the preferred option at the moment. That was the message coming out of a discussion on a pair of controversial royalty schemes at the recent Alberta Federation of Agriculture AGM. […] Read more