Scientists are developing new varieties with better yields and market opportunities, but concerns over testing capacity and breeding investment are casting uncertainty over future progress.
Promising new crop varieties offering higher yields, stronger disease resistance and traits designed for changing markets are making their way toward Prairie farmers.
But whether Alberta farmers will have enough reliable local data to know which of those varieties actually belong on their farms is becoming a bigger question.
That concern hung over the Prairie Grain Development Committee (PGDC) meetings in Banff, Alta., earlier this year, where scientists and industry representatives reviewed the next generation of wheat, barley, oat, mustard and pulse varieties.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) research cuts — including the planned closure of the Lacombe Research and Development Centre — were a recurring concern across several recommending committees.
Researchers warn that losing sites such as Lacombe could leave major production regions without the local trial data used to determine how new varieties perform under different soils, rainfall patterns and disease pressures.
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