Sask Wheat commits over $3.6 million to collaborative wheat research

Saskatoon  – The Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (Sask Wheat) has committed $3.6 million to 23 research projects funded under the Saskatchewan Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) in 2020. The federal Ministers of Agriculture, the Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, and the Premier of Saskatchewan, the Hon. Scott Moe, announced the funding of all crop related ADF projects funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership prior to the start of today’s program.

 

 “The ADF funding process allows producers to be involved in important research that will build long-term, sustainable growth for the industry.” says Sask Wheat Chair Brett Halstead. “We are pleased to partner with the Government of Saskatchewan and collaborate with other ADF co-funders to invest in new opportunities for wheat producers and strengthen the future of Canadian agriculture.”

 

The Sask Wheat funding includes projects identified through the ADF intake process and funded by Sask Wheat solely or in partnership with other Prairie crop commissions and/or the ADF. The approved projects include fusarium head blight and ergot resistance studies, research into next generation fungicides, fungi and deoxynivalenol (DON) diagnostic tools, integrated pest management strategies for kochia, identification of genome structural variants for trait improvement, and grain protein and yield studies in durum and Canada Western Red Spring wheat varieties. 

 

Sask Wheat has committed over $12.9 million to projects through the ADF process since 2014. This research falls into the areas of variety development, production, and post-production.

 

 The ADF is supported through the federal-provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year, $388 million agreement between the federal and provincial governments to invest in strategic initiatives for Saskatchewan agriculture.

 

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.