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WGRF Announces New Graduate Scholarship at ULethbridge

Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) is pleased to announce a $15,000 per year commitment for a graduate scholarship at the University of Lethbridge (ULethbridge) available to students pursuing a Master of Science in any of WGRF’s priority research areas.

The scholarship will specifically support students who are studying in ULethbridge agricultural biotechnology and agricultural studies graduate programs. These programs contribute to research with a direct impact on local agricultural practices, building on strong ties with institutions such as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, as well as local community and industry groups.

“WGRF has made it a priority to increase research capacity in Western Canada,” says Dr. Keith Degenhardt, WGRF Board Chair. “This investment by producers in a graduate scholarship at ULethbridge will help build a stronger future for agriculture research by helping graduate students reach their fullest potential.”

“An investment in graduate student research is one that reaps many rewards and builds stronger communities of practice, expertise, and connections,” says Dr. Dena McMartin, ULethbridge’s vice-president (research). “We are pleased to partner with WGRF in support of graduate students and their achievements in the Agricultural Biotechnology and Agricultural Studies programs.”

Scholarship availability is a significant incentive for students to apply their skills and knowledge towards agricultural research, adding breadth and depth to the talent pool in the field.

“We are very excited to establish this new scholarship at ULethbridge,” says Garth Patterson, WGRF Executive Director. “The need to recruit the best and brightest students into agricultural research is an important step to help accelerate and expand crop research. We look forward to seeing the positive impact these students make on western Canadian crop production in the future.”

WGRF funds a broad range of research in variety development and crop production in 15 different western Canadian field crops.

Source : WGRF

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Wheat Yields in USA and China Threatened by Heat Waves Breaking Enzymes

Video: Wheat Yields in USA and China Threatened by Heat Waves Breaking Enzymes

A new peer reviewed study looks at the generally unrecognized risk of heat waves surpassing the threshold for enzyme damage in wheat.

Most studies that look at crop failure in the main food growing regions (breadbaskets of the planet) look at temperatures and droughts in the historical records to assess present day risk. Since the climate system has changed, these historical based risk analysis studies underestimate the present-day risks.

What this new research study does is generate an ensemble of plausible scenarios for the present climate in terms of temperatures and precipitation, and looks at how many of these plausible scenarios exceed the enzyme-breaking temperature of 32.8 C for wheat, and exceed the high stress yield reducing temperature of 27.8 C for wheat. Also, the study considers the possibility of a compounded failure with heat waves in both regions simultaneously, this greatly reducing global wheat supply and causing severe shortages.

Results show that the likelihood (risk) of wheat crop failure with a one-in-hundred likelihood in 1981 has in today’s climate become increased by 16x in the USA winter wheat crop (to one-in-six) and by 6x in northeast China (to one-in-sixteen).

The risks determined in this new paper are much greater than that obtained in previous work that determines risk by analyzing historical climate patterns.

Clearly, since the climate system is rapidly changing, we cannot assume stationarity and calculate risk probabilities like we did traditionally before.

We are essentially on a new planet, with a new climate regime, and have to understand that everything is different now.