WGRF Approves $18 Million for Research

[gustgd]

A guy should take a screen shot , and the next time one of you is talking about using US varieties, or trying some agronomy that you've heard about from Australia, maybe wishing you had market access to China. I'll just bring it up.

I had been hammered on here for years that the railroad money was not being spent at a fast enough rate. Now that there is some capacity and means. Some are saying it's adding to a burdensome pile.

I'm going to paraphrase colevilleC02 When you stop using modern genetics and agronomic practices. To try and whittle down the pile, I and your neighbours will double down to steal market share. If it's not us it will be our international competitors. If they are in Russia, Australia, or our US neighbours.
Good luck in your strategy, we'll see in 50 years who is right.

[farming101]

Great news. This is one place where you can see checkoff money at work. Other places not so much.
It is my understanding that the current policy of the WGRF is that the actual contributions made to the endowment fund triggered by the rail cap are invested, not spent. It will be interesting to see the annual report. There must have been some huge gains realized in the endowment fund for that much money to be available?
Invest it wisely boys, the 65 million dumped in the endowment fund in '09 will never be repeated. It would be a shame to lose it because of bad investments.

[bucket]

Everyone has talked with people that used the latest varieties and bought all the right chemical and had a 50 bushel #1 wheat or durum crop go to shit.

If you are trying to outsmart mother nature 18 million isn't going to cut it.

What's the end game for the research? If you want to equal the US or Australians you had better put the house in order as well and have a transportation system that can handle it.

[farmaholic]

Re: Cereals

I would say screw the yield bump and focus on fusarium "resistance", midge resistance, and other meaningful agronomic traits. What good is a durum variety that was bred from desert durum varieties with 80bu/ac potential without any fusarium or midge tolerance? Or even spring wheat varieties that need to have less than .25% fusarium for a #1 or .80 for a two, really? Ya that's what I need, is more of the same where I farm. And Alberta watch out it's(fusarium) coming to farm near you!!

How about bundling up a few positive traits, there are no silver bullets in the Seed Guides.

How about developing something different and unique that would separate us from everyone else. But don't forget we are producing a cheap raw commodity so it probably wouldn't garner much of a premium anyway. (Isn't fertilizer a commodity, any use for it other than the value I add to it by converting it to FOOD!!! LOL)

[gustgd]

Most yield improvement across the prairies comes through yield stability.
Yield stability comes from increases in tolerance to adverse factors. Whether your talking about increased disease resistance, more efficient fertilizer uptake, or frost tolerance.
Some always point to canola being no better than it was 20 years ago. Yet they fail to remember the disasters they also had or the small number of acres it could be grown on.

Fusarium research in Saskatchewan is lacking because for years we had no fusarium nursery. No govt regulator would allow fusarium to be brought in to test under field conditions. Yet here we are 10-15 years later with full blown fusarium and no inbred resistance.


Much of the work just involves crosses. Read: time and money.
More crosses = better chance of success.

[farmaholic]

Gust, Manitoba has fusarium for quite some time. Surely there had to have been some work done there? Don't universities and public breeders share their work? Sask shouldn't have to start at zero.

[gustgd]

How much durum grown in Mb?

[farmaholic]

I meant spring wheat, Gerrid. Durum will be at risk even in it's "traditional" areas if drier weather patterns don't resume there. Just having fusarium "lurking", waiting for the right conditions, is unnerving.

I would think you're right regarding conventional breeding, it will take time. If we get into GMO we might be without market acceptance.