Underfunding of plant breeding is costing us money
By William Van Tassel
February 08, 2010
There is a big demand in my province these days for locally grown wheat – consumers are willing to pay a premium for artisan bread made from wheat grown in Quebec.
But flour producers can’t always source all the wheat they would like because of fusarium damage.
At the same time, Agriculture Canada researchers have produced some very promising breeding material with high resistance to fusarium. So why aren’t we planting these new varieties? Because there’s still work to be done before they are suitable for growing.
It takes many years – and many dollars – to develop promising plant material into new registered varieties, but public-sector plant breeders have been starved of funding for a very long time. Public funding for agronomic research has dropped by 40 per cent – after adjusting for inflation – since 1994.
Skimping on agronomic research is not wise, and this is why four major farm groups representing more than 100,000 grain farmers from across Canada have called on the federal government to double core research funding over the next 10 years. That sounds like a lot but such an increase would only bring back funding to 1994 levels.
Takes years
It is always easy to cut research funding because you don’t see the effects right away. It’s only years later that the pipeline of new varieties begins to dry up.
This is where we are at today. In a world that needs dramatic increases in food production to feed its growing population, yield increases in Canadian wheat, oats, barley and other grains are virtually flat. In niche areas, such as the Quebec artisan bread market, we can’t even always meet the market demand.
In the long term, research pays. Canadian grain growers know this. It is time we spoke up and made sure that the government understands this too.
For CBC commentary, I’m William Van Tassel, a grain grower and vice-chair of the Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec in Hubertville, Quebec.
Grain Farmers of Ontario, Grain Growers of Canada, and the Atlantic Grains Council have joined the the Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec in forming Farmers for Investment, which has formally called on the federal government to double its agronomic research funding.
