Rain Key Story In Alberta's Crop Report

Jul 07, 2020

According to the report the South and much of Central regions received widespread rain or showers and some scattered hail. The southern portion of Peace region recorded some significant precipitation along with the southwest and northeast areas of the North West region, and the north west part of the North East region.

Producers across much of the Province would welcome some hot, arid days to dry out soil, advance crop development and allow time to finish post-emergent spraying.

Overall, crop conditions are 80 per cent good to excellent and above average in the South, Central and North East regions, on par in the Peace, while the North West is definitely lagging behind.

Peas sown in the low spots in South and Central regions are showing early signs of stress from too much moisture, while the wet conditions are causing yellowing off for many crops all across the North West region, as well as in the north-west portion of North East region, and the south and east counties of Peace.

Recent rains have definitely helped hay and pasture growth but delayed haying activity.

Forage crops are generally in good to excellent condition across the province.

Tame hay growth rated as good or excellent is at 93 per cent compared to the five-year average of 56 per cent.

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Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”

Rain Key Story In Alberta's Crop Report

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Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

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