Lentil genetics paid for with farmer check offs were gifted to other nations...

[wmoebis]

This is nothing new. Back in early 90's I was in attendance when a group of farmers and dignitaries of the newly formed country of Kazakhstan and the AG Minister stood up and said he wanted to thank the gov't of Canada and it's people for supplying them with enough Wheat, Barley and Canola that they were now able to be self supporting. Now they are our competition all made possible with our help.

[TOM4CWB]

This is nothing new. Back in early 90's I was in attendance when a group of farmers and dignitaries of the newly formed country of Kazakhstan and the AG Minister stood up and said he wanted to thank the gov't of Canada and it's people for supplying them with enough Wheat, Barley and Canola that they were now able to be self supporting. Now they are our competition all made possible with our help.

"It's a wonder people like Gregor Mendel, Seager Wheeler, and Al Slinkard were able to accomplish what they did with what they had."

Al Slinkard was the father of Sask Lentils.... was a plant breeder from the US and a genius plant breeder.

If Sask Pulse/CDC Saskatoon, had not sold out a few years back... there would not be levies and royalties on pulse crops in western Canada anywhere today. If that were the case still... I would not begrudge sharing the pulses like the US did to help get western Canada going with good pulse genetics. Cheers

[Rareearth]

Oops unlike,

Wonder where the usa got its varieties from?

Anyway, wondering:
- how many Pulse varieties Sask Pulse growers released?
- very how many years?
- average cost per year to CDC, and internal employees per year?

What would be the average cost per variety?

Pulse growers wanted out of Pulse Canada because they could market better? Yet international marketing not core business activity of Pulse Growers. Plant breeding core activity or not? Now the university (CDC does breeding) with saskatchewan taxpayer money to compete against saskatchewan producers?

[Quadtrack]

Oops unlike,

Wonder where the usa got its varieties from?

Anyway, wondering:
- how many Pulse varieties Sask Pulse growers released?
- very how many years?
- average cost per year to CDC, and internal employees per year?

What would be the average cost per variety?

Pulse growers wanted out of Pulse Canada because they could market better? Yet international marketing not core business activity of Pulse Growers. Plant breeding core activity or not? Now the university (CDC does breeding) with saskatchewan taxpayer money to compete against saskatchewan producers?

125 varieties released royalty free for the up front funding total of 42 million. Over 25 years.
Was it a good deal for farmers? What is/has the pulse industry meant to SK farmers? Some years sales of Pulse crops have been in the billions...

This thread is very misleading. No genetics were ‘given’away. Read it. The Genome Canada project was about developing a model to determine which characteristics of a cultivar make it suitable for certain growing conditions.
And news flash, plant breeders all over the world have various reciprocal agreements for sharing germ plasm. How else do you introduce improvements? GM not being done in pulses (in Canada) so it’s crosses and back crosses.
Not sure what the motivation behind this thread is. Whatever. Not my issue any longer. Just be good to seek out some facts before jumping to conclusions

[dmlfarmer]

Hold on. Farmers are supposed to be upset because Canadian plant scientists have planted small plot trials of lentils in 9 other countries with different climates to learn the impact of climate on Lentil yields? Yet at the same time in 2017-18 Canadian seed companies exported $646 million dollars of seed (pulse and cereals) to over 100 countries around the world? Many of those varieties likely originated from Canada's public plant breeding system.

I will not identify the Canadian seed company, but points made on their website include:
-global supplier of special crops and select seed.
-they offer hands-on advice and answer to questions about the seed and the practices used to produce them
-they have the newest pulse varieties from the Crop Development Centre
-they offer the latest seed varieties.

Why worry about small plot research trials when farmers around the world can simply purchase the best Canadian seed from private Canadian seed growers/companies?

Consider too that many seed companies pursuing canola development for new canola varieties for distribution in Canada test varieties and rely on seed multiplication in south America during the winter season

And wasn't one of the reasons for getting rid of the board so that Canadian farmers could access and grow US wheat varieties?

It is this type of research that led to canola acres expanding south into the hotter, dryer brown soil zones, and soybeans, lentils and especially corn to move north into cooler regions.

So given global seed development and trade, what is your suggested solution LW?

[bucket]

125 varieties released royalty free for the up front funding total of 42 million. Over 25 years.
Was it a good deal for farmers? What is/has the pulse industry meant to SK farmers? Some years sales of Pulse crops have been in the billions...

This thread is very misleading. No genetics were ‘given’away. Read it. The Genome Canada project was about developing a model to determine which characteristics of a cultivar make it suitable for certain growing conditions.
And news flash, plant breeders all over the world have various reciprocal agreements for sharing germ plasm. How else do you introduce improvements? GM not being done in pulses (in Canada) so it’s crosses and back crosses.
Not sure what the motivation behind this thread is. Whatever. Not my issue any longer. Just be good to seek out some facts before jumping to conclusions

Interesting to see someone defend complete incompetence...the genetics were gave away and the market is in the shitter. ..

30 cents for reds is not a good price considering costs to grow them....

[chuckChuck]

Canada's lentil industry owes its success to the great breeders we have and their access to germplasm through germplasm sharing agreements with several countries and institutions.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4960256/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4960256/

Genetic Diversity of Cultivated Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) and Its Relation to the World's Agro-ecological Zones

Abstract

Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure of germplasm collections plays a critical role in supporting conservation and crop genetic enhancement strategies. We used a cultivated lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) collection consisting of 352 accessions originating from 54 diverse countries to estimate genetic diversity and genetic structure using 1194 polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers which span the lentil genome. Using principal coordinate analysis, population structure analysis and UPGMA cluster analysis, the accessions were categorized into three major groups that prominently reflected geographical origin (world's agro-ecological zones). The three clusters complemented the origins, pedigrees, and breeding histories of the germplasm. The three groups were (a) South Asia (sub-tropical savannah), (b) Mediterranean, and (c) northern temperate. Based on the results from this study, it is also clear that breeding programs still have considerable genetic diversity to mine within the cultivated lentil, as surveyed South Asian and Canadian germplasm revealed narrow genetic diversity.
Keywords: lentil, genetic diversity, population structure, germplasm, SNP markers, agro-ecological zones


Introduction

Cultivated lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus ssp. culinaris) is the third most important cool-season grain legume in the world after chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) (FAO, 2015). Legumes are important components in farming systems, providing environmental and ecological benefits through crop rotation, especially by contributing to soil fertility and rhizosphere diversity through biological N2 fixation. Global annual lentil production was around 5 million metric tons (Tg) from nearly 4.3 million ha (Mha) in 2013. Canada was the largest producer, contributing 38% of the world's production, followed by India, Turkey, and Australia (FAO, 2015). Lentil was one of the first domesticated grain legumes, originating from the Near East center of origin (Zohary, 1999). Lentil subsequently spread to central Asia and the Mediterranean Basin (Cubero, 1981; Lev-Yadun et al., 2000). It is a relatively new crop in North America, first introduced into northwest USA in the 1930s and into the northern temperate prairies of North America in the late 1960s (Muehlbauer et al., 1995). Globally today, lentil is grown in three major distinct agro-ecological zones: Mediterranean, sub-tropical savannah, and northern temperate (Tullu et al., 2011). These zones each exhibit different day lengths and temperatures, which limits the exchange of germplasm between agro-ecological adaptation zones.

Success in crop breeding is a function of heritability, genetic diversity, and selection. Natural agro-biodiversity stored in genebanks can be used to expand the diversity in crops. These collections are a vital source for discovering useful genes/alleles, which serve as a cornerstone for any pre-breeding program. There are currently 58,405 Lens accessions held in various genebanks worldwide (FAO, 2010). International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) hosts the largest collection (19%) followed by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, India (17%) and the Australian temperate field crops collection (9%). Currently, the most accessible and accessed lentil collection is held by the USDA-ARS (United States Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service; https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/).

[LWeber]

125 varieties released royalty free for the up front funding total of 42 million. Over 25 years.
Was it a good deal for farmers? What is/has the pulse industry meant to SK farmers? Some years sales of Pulse crops have been in the billions...

This thread is very misleading. No genetics were ‘given’away. Read it. The Genome Canada project was about developing a model to determine which characteristics of a cultivar make it suitable for certain growing conditions.
And news flash, plant breeders all over the world have various reciprocal agreements for sharing germ plasm. How else do you introduce improvements? GM not being done in pulses (in Canada) so it’s crosses and back crosses.
Not sure what the motivation behind this thread is. Whatever. Not my issue any longer. Just be good to seek out some facts before jumping to conclusions

I guess an apology is in order for my misleading motivation and conclusions... I was unaware that germ plasm is still the cutting edge for genetic improvements and that we are indeed in the year 2020.

$42 million has provided 25 years of genetic data.
I thought that might be worth something.

My error is further compounded by land/yield data given away for free but it now makes sense.



I'd like to introduce you to Beckman Coulter's Genome Lab GeXP.

It can take the 125 lentil varieties that farmers paid for, as you say, 42 million for and generate analysis from 384 samples and 3 million genotypes per day.

Cost of a new GeXP = approx $150,000.

Not often you get the opportunity of 125 identity preserved varieties gifted to you and have the ability to map the gene splicing.

I highly doubt that Russian agriculture intelligence, Putin and their blockchain wizards would be interested in our lentil genetic data... after all they are about 25-30 years behind Canadian breeding institutions.

So again, I apologize, please carry on.

[TOM4CWB]

I guess an apology is in order for my misleading motivation and conclusions... I was unaware that germ plasm is still the cutting edge for genetic improvements and that we are indeed in the year 2020.

$42 million has provided 25 years of genetic data.
I thought that might be worth something.

My error is further compounded by land/yield data given away for free but it now makes sense.

[ATTACH]6848[/ATTACH]

I'd like to introduce you to Beckman Coulter's Genome Lab GeXP.

It can take the 125 lentil varieties that farmers paid for, as you say, 42 million for and generate analysis from 384 samples and 3 million genotypes per day.

Cost of a new GeXP = approx $150,000.

Not often you get the opportunity of 125 identity preserved varieties gifted to you and have the ability to map the gene splicing.

I highly doubt that Russian agriculture intelligence, Putin and their blockchain wizards would be interested in our lentil genetic data... after all they are about 25-30 years behind Canadian breeding institutions.

So again, I apologize, please carry on.

Dear LWeber,

Our world is undergoing real and hard to fathom changes. Covid - 19 and China has a vaccine already as well as control of the Pandemic... the genetics that are mapped before this pandemic even started and was spread to the rest of our planet.

Gene splicing/mapping and the 50 years of pulse variety development.... Al Slinkard and the massive good will the US shared with Western Canada... creating a pulse powerhouse of production and quality... makes the 50M$ look like a miniscule investment... as we now feed 100's of Millions with our pulse grains and fractionated products globally. Australia shared genetics with us... and we with them... all to everyone's benefit in the end.

Being old and bitter is NOT what we should be strived to be remembered by. The great work we did over the past 50 years created an international pulse leader of western Canada... in which we call all be patriotic and proud to be a part of... including the good work you and your family have contributed to our success.

Therefore I will remember the good work you have done [Larry]... and our foundation pulse plant breeders can be proud to be a part of this historic food transition to a new economy and opportunity for our plants/grains/foods to feed billions of people with healthy safe nutritious sustainable foods.

God Bless Canada, the US, and our little blue planet third from the sun!!!

Cheers!

[furrowtickler]

Too bad the breeders had their heads stuck in the sand over root rot for the past 15 years .
Pea acres dropping again next year in many areas .

Maybe instead of patting themselves on the back At winter meetings and so happy to share with the world ... they should have put a lot more time and money into disease resistance instead of just pumping out a whole bunch of me - too varieties they past decade

[bucket]

Just keep growing more that will solve the problem...

The fact that Weber shows up and posts something is a good enough warning for me to understand how phucking incompetent people are on the commissions and farm groups...


And yet guys will defend the incompetence....

I suspect if Weber posted more of what he does know ...some people would start paying attention on how we have been taken advantage of with meeting addicts we call farm reps...

[furrowtickler]

Canada's lentil industry owes its success to the great breeders we have and their access to germplasm through germplasm sharing agreements with several countries and institutions.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4960256/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4960256/

Genetic Diversity of Cultivated Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) and Its Relation to the World's Agro-ecological Zones

Abstract

Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure of germplasm collections plays a critical role in supporting conservation and crop genetic enhancement strategies. We used a cultivated lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) collection consisting of 352 accessions originating from 54 diverse countries to estimate genetic diversity and genetic structure using 1194 polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers which span the lentil genome. Using principal coordinate analysis, population structure analysis and UPGMA cluster analysis, the accessions were categorized into three major groups that prominently reflected geographical origin (world's agro-ecological zones). The three clusters complemented the origins, pedigrees, and breeding histories of the germplasm. The three groups were (a) South Asia (sub-tropical savannah), (b) Mediterranean, and (c) northern temperate. Based on the results from this study, it is also clear that breeding programs still have considerable genetic diversity to mine within the cultivated lentil, as surveyed South Asian and Canadian germplasm revealed narrow genetic diversity.
Keywords: lentil, genetic diversity, population structure, germplasm, SNP markers, agro-ecological zones


Introduction

Cultivated lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus ssp. culinaris) is the third most important cool-season grain legume in the world after chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) (FAO, 2015). Legumes are important components in farming systems, providing environmental and ecological benefits through crop rotation, especially by contributing to soil fertility and rhizosphere diversity through biological N2 fixation. Global annual lentil production was around 5 million metric tons (Tg) from nearly 4.3 million ha (Mha) in 2013. Canada was the largest producer, contributing 38% of the world's production, followed by India, Turkey, and Australia (FAO, 2015). Lentil was one of the first domesticated grain legumes, originating from the Near East center of origin (Zohary, 1999). Lentil subsequently spread to central Asia and the Mediterranean Basin (Cubero, 1981; Lev-Yadun et al., 2000). It is a relatively new crop in North America, first introduced into northwest USA in the 1930s and into the northern temperate prairies of North America in the late 1960s (Muehlbauer et al., 1995). Globally today, lentil is grown in three major distinct agro-ecological zones: Mediterranean, sub-tropical savannah, and northern temperate (Tullu et al., 2011). These zones each exhibit different day lengths and temperatures, which limits the exchange of germplasm between agro-ecological adaptation zones.

Success in crop breeding is a function of heritability, genetic diversity, and selection. Natural agro-biodiversity stored in genebanks can be used to expand the diversity in crops. These collections are a vital source for discovering useful genes/alleles, which serve as a cornerstone for any pre-breeding program. There are currently 58,405 Lens accessions held in various genebanks worldwide (FAO, 2010). International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) hosts the largest collection (19%) followed by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, India (17%) and the Australian temperate field crops collection (9%). Currently, the most accessible and accessed lentil collection is held by the USDA-ARS (United States Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service; https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/).

How many lentils you grow chuck ?