Canadian agriculture is set to thrive further with a $5 million investment from Farm Credit Canada (FCC) into the accelerated breeding program at the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan.
The announcement was made Tuesday at Canada’s Farm Show in Regina.
The newly named FCC Accelerated Breeding Program at GIFS will drive sustainable advancements in agricultural productivity across Canada.
“Saskatchewan in particular, crop yields are up, the resiliency to climate change is up because our breeders – using their traditional tools – have been able to really advance breeding. Accelerated breeding takes it to a whole new level, so it really changes the rate at which breeders can make improvements” said Steven Webb, Chief Executive Officer of GIFS.
“Accelerated breeding combines technologies such as genomic selection, speed breeding, bioinformatics and computer simulation to increase the rate of genetic gain for crop and livestock breeding programs, delivering new products into the hands of producers two to three years faster and improving agronomics, quality and disease resistant traits.” says a news release.
Deployed for over 20 years in dairy and for more than a decade in crops such as corn and soybean through large corporations, the FCC Accelerated Breeding Program at GIFS will provide public and private breeders access to the same technologies not routinely available for crops and livestock important to Canada.