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Tag Archives plant breeding
This week on ‘Between The Rows’
Episode 247, Oct. 21, 2021
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
USDA limits review requirements of some biotech farm products
Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Thursday a rule that will simplify or waive agency reviews of certain biotech farm products, including plants and seeds that have been genetically modified or engineered. As a result, some products could be sold to farmers without a USDA review — a move that […] Read more
Creating a cold-tolerant alfalfa
Canadian scientists are pioneering new methods to speed development of more productive, cold-tolerant alfalfa varieties
Rows and rows of white metal cabinets resembling refrigerators line the basement of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Research Centre in Quebec City. In fact, they are plant growth chambers that contain bright grow lights and potted alfalfa plants at different stages of maturity. In another area of the building there is a large […] Read more
New cold-tolerant clovers
The first arrivals are cover crops, but forages are on their way
When it comes to trying something new, it’s common for growers who rely on their forages to stick with what works. That’s understandable, given the demands for consistency, especially by dairy producers. Yet standing still is rarely a path to success on the farm. Now, in spite of growing concerns surrounding climate change, one seed […] Read more
Giving birth to new native grasses
Forages: News Roundup from the November 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Native forage breeders at Swift Current Research and Development Centre spend their careers attempting to capture and transfer the diversity of native forages into new composite varieties that offer better health and productivity than the originals. “It takes multiple years to identify what we want and then make sure that a characteristic we are highlighting […] Read more
Who will breed the next generation?
Forages aren’t only suffering from a shortage of research dollars, but a shortage of researchers to do the work if the money were available
See if you can answer these two skill-testing agricultural questions. What is the largest crop in Canada? Which crop has one of the poorest records for funding research and breeding programs? If you answered “forages” to both, you’re right. You’ve also put your finger on a chronic problem in Canada’s forage industry. Statistics show the […] Read more
Forage breeding faces funding challenges
Government has cut back, private companies are not keen on crops that don’t need to be reseeded every year, and you can’t check off sales to farmers’ own livestock
Forages are Canada’s biggest crop but you wouldn’t know it because of the few resources that go into breeding them. You’d think that, given its size, forage would be a giant in the world of plant breeding. Unfortunately, it’s more of a midget. Canada has only four major publicly funded programs for breeding tame forages, […] Read more
Beefed-up plant breeders’ rights
Plant breeders’ rights may not be at the top of your need-to-know list, but taking a few moments to acquaint yourself with the new regulations could save a lot of grief in the long run. Todd Hyra, SeCan’s business manager for Western Canada, explains what plant breeders’ rights (PBR) are all about and why this […] Read more
Who owns you?
As I stood in the massive greenhouse in Holland it was easy to see that farming had changed. The trays of herbs that generated 40 million euros (C$58 million) for this one glasshouse were vigorously growing under LED lights. It was the first step in the development of the “black box” where the plants’ environment […] Read more
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