Vijay Kumar Tiwari didn’t expect to become a hero in the eyes of wheat farmers. But since he and his team at the University of Maryland in Washington, D.C., identified a gene mutation capable of tripling the number of kernels on a head of wheat, the postcards have rolled in. He has received handwritten notes from farmers cheering him on. “They’ve said, ‘We’ve heard the news, and we are really excited about it.’ Hopefully it translates into farmers’ fields,” said Tiwari, an associate professor of wheat breeding.

Canadian wheat breeders and researchers agree on three things: lodging is a serious concern for Prairie wheat farmers, stem strength isn’t the only factor that affects lodging and more research is needed to find agronomic and genetic responses.

Five new wheat varieties developed by LimaGrain Cereals Research Canada (LCRC) have been licensed to distributors this year following recommendation by the Prairie Grain Development Committee. Established in 2015, the private wheat breeder is a partnership between two farmer-owned co-operatives, France’s Limagrain and Canada’s Canterra Seeds. The variety recommendations represent a major success for the organization, which has marketed just four wheat varieties since its formation, including CS Accelerate and CS Daybreak.

Gurcharn Singh Brar’s ambition was to develop or lead a wheat breeding program. “Plant breeders have a very tangible impact on the lives of growers,” said Brar. “That’s very, very fulfilling.”

Many farmers celebrate the end of a long growing season with a well-earned sunny getaway. For very different reasons, Canadian cereal breeders also frequently head south, or at least ship their breeding material to foreign locales. The work carried out in international destinations allows them to develop new high-quality crop varieties in a timely manner.

Over the past two years, University of Calgary plant breeder Marcus Samuel has demonstrated impressive drought-tolerant proof-of-concept improvements in wheat using an innovative, non-GMO breeding technique. The project has received $398,000 in funding from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Results Driven Agricultural Research, the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions, SaskWheat and the Manitoba Crop Alliance. Samuel hopes to bring these same drought tolerance gains to elite wheat varieties nearing commercialization.

As drought ravaged crops across the Prairies this past summer, it was once again made abundantly clear farmers can’t control the weather. On the Prairies, crop losses in dry years can range from 30 to more than 50 per cent of average yield.

Launched by the Wheat Initiative, an international research organization, the 10+ Wheat Genome Project has unlocked the genetic code of 15 wheat varieties. Curtis Pozniak, USask professor and director of the institution’s Crop Development Centre, led the project, which was funded by numerous organizations including the Alberta Wheat Commission and carried out by scientists in several countries.

With early snowfalls having impacted harvests in recent years, the time couldn’t be better for Dean Spaner’s wheat breeding program to hit its stride. A University of Alberta professor and plant breeder, Spaner focuses on bringing high-yielding but early-maturing wheat varieties to market. It’s a natural fit for the northernmost wheat breeding program on the continent.

The implications of manipulating
the cellular carbon flux within the wheat plant are immense for grain farmers and consumers.