NRC spearheads wheat R&D alliance with AAFC and Univ of Saskatchewan

The National Research Council's Canadian Wheat Improvement Flagship Program has secured only modest private sector funding to date although such leveraging is a key objective of the agency's new status as a refocused research and technology organization. Renamed the Canadian Wheat Alliance (CWA), it is scheduled to continue for at least 11 years as a partnership with the Government of Saskatchewan, the Univ of Saskatchewan (U of S) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

The NRC is providing the lion's share of funding — $65 million or two thirds of the $97 million committed for the first five years — but the program is being billed as an alliance rather than an NRC flagship.

"You have to be careful about saying who leads what. Saskatchewan and AAFC both have tremendous expertise in wheat breeding. Our role is in refocusing some of our research areas (and) to bring the partners together," says CWA executive director Dr Faouzi Bekkaoui.

And while no companies have directly committed to the program, industry is collaborating on wheat research through two of the partners (AAFC and the Univ of Saskatchewan) and the NRC states that the "CWA welcomes the engagement of both public and private sector organizations".

The CWA is also being supported by wheat producers through the Western Grain Research Foundation. The WGRF currently spends $4 million annually on wheat variety development and has invested more than $60 million since 1995 through the AAFC and the Crop Development Centre which is affiliated with the Univ of Saskatchewan.

Investment by producers and industry in Canadian wheat is modest compared to what companies in other countries spend.

In Australia, for example, Bayer CropScience, which recently opened a small facility in Saskatchewan, has invested nearly CDN$16 million in new breeding center near Horsham Australia) for wheat and oilseeds research to develop new varieties with higher yields and productivity improvements tailored to Australian conditions.

The levels of non-public funding in the CWA stand in contrast to previous commitments cited by the NRC. In an address late last year, NRC president John McDougall told an audience at Carleton Univ that the resilient wheat flagship was successful in attracting $150 million in industry commitments. But CWA executive director Dr Faouzi Bekkaoui says industry funding is still under development with potential players in the wings to determine whether project outcomes warrant direct participation.

"We have a strategy to engage them but it will take some time," he says. "We're talking to them and we will engage them and get them to participate … We are working in the pre-competitive area and we want to create a consortium where companies can join to gain advantage. But we don't want to exclude the IP (intellectual property) route."

multiple aims for wheat collaboration

The aim of the CWA is to develop improved varieties of wheat that are resistant to disease, more tolerant of heat, drought and cold, require less fertilizer and produce greater yields. Because wheat currently is not as profitable as other crop types, CWA will work to improve yields and make it more viable as a crop option.

CWA has an initial slate of six research projects that were developed over the past two years prior to the Saskatoon–based Plant Biotechnology Institute being rolled into the NRC's Life Sciences division (see chart).

Despite the elimination of individual institutes, approximately 85% of the NRC engaged in CWA are based in Saskatoon, at the former PBI, augmented by scientists in Ottawa at the former Institute for Information technology who will provide expertise in bioinformatics.

The NRC is also investing in research infrastructure including a $600,000 DNA sequencing machine in Saskatoon, although capital costs have not yet been included in NRC's overall contribution to CWA.

For its part, AAFC will contribute $20 million over five years and draw on its research expertise in Swift Current SK, Lethbridge AB, Winnipeg and Ottawa, conducting field trials and providing germ plasm.

The Univ of Saskatchewan will contribute $7 million in in-kind over five years through its Crop Development Centre in the areas of breeding, genomics and bioinformatics. The Government of Saskatchewan is providing $10 million in support of the province's wheat research initiatives, $5 million of which is earmarked specifically for the CWA.

Although genomics constitutes a key element of CWA's research program, it won't be engaging in genetic modification. Bekkaoui says researchers will be using cell doubled haploid culture techniques which produces far faster results than conventional inbreeding techniques.

"This cell culture technique allows breeders to shorten the breeding cycle by two to four years (and) is similar to the method used for canola and other crops. AAFC also has this expertise," says Bekkaoui.

In the area of bioinformatics, CWA is working with Shared Services Canada to address the need for equipment upgrades to handle the massive amounts of data the program is expected to generate.

"The key for us is to bring the four partners together and have a long-term program. It's quite unique to do this in Canada," he says. "This is a very large initiative we're undertaking for the benefit of farmers and to increase the yield to be more profitable like canola."

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