b'long-term breeding work and long-termCanada. It goes on to say that securing investment. the future of wheat in Canada requires But the systems very interconnected- a reimagining of our wheat breeding ness now poses risks. innovation system.The urgency has only intensified since The Bottlenecks That Cannot bethe report was first commissioned. As a Outsourced farmer about 80 kilometres from Indian The immediate fear among industry lead- Head, I understand how important these ers is not abstract. It is operational. Loseresearch stations are, Velestuk says. It a year of field data, and a breeding cycletakes over 13 years to move from germ-can be set back irreversibly. You cantplasm to a variety in farmers hands. You just catch up later, Reid explains.cant afford big gaps.More insidious is the potential loss of people. Breeding programs rely heavilyThe Municipal Experimenton experienced technicians and researchIf the federal governments retrench-staff who understand local conditionsment has unsettled the system, someTodd Green, the County of Newells agricultural and protocols. If they leave in searchlocal actors have moved in the oppositeservices director, envisions a campus-style environment for CDC South where of stability, their departure cannot bedirection. researchers work side by side on practical reversed by restoring funding later. In Brooks, Alta., the County ofchallenges. Then there are the sites them- Newell recently assumed responsibility selves. Not all research locations arefor Crop Diversification Centre South, interchangeable. Take Indian Head ina former provincial research facility. Saskatchewan, renowned for its role inMunicipal leaders adopted a cost-recov-screening for fusarium head blight. Itery model designed to attract private and gives us just the right amount of infec- public research partners.tion to do very effective screening, saysIt was hard to see a research station Reid. You cant easily replicate that. sitting there largely underutilised, says And beyond breeding lies seed purity.Candace Woods, project coordinator for Moving a seed increase unitresponsi- the county. It mattered to us that there ble for producing early-generation seed was active research coming out of that can take years. In the interim, the spectrefacility.of contaminated breeder seed looms.The countys approach is pragmatic. Our ratepayers dont want to be on the Farmers as Funders hook to fund it entirely, Woods says. If the crisis has surprised some observers,Partnerships are essential.it has not surprised farmers. They have,Todd Green, the countys agriculturalCandace Woods, project coordinator for the County of Newell, says it mattered to the in many respects, been underwriting theservices director, describes the ambitioncounty that there was active research coming system for years. as creating a campus-style environmentout of the CDC South facility.Farmers fund almost half of wheatwhere researchers collaborate on practi-breeding in Canada, Velestuk notes.cal problems. Success is paying the bills, Since 2020, the CWRC has investedkeeping the lights on, and having mean-$70.5 million into AAFC and universityingful research happening, he says.wheat breeding programs. The experiment is small in national That scale of investment promptedterms. But it hints at a broader rethink-CWRCa collaboration amonging of governance: might hybrid modelsManitoba Crop Alliance, Saskatchewanfill some of the gaps left by federal Wheat Development Commission andpullback?Alberta Grainsto commission a comprehensive review of Canadas wheatA Question of Talentbreeding innovation system last year. Beyond infrastructure and funding lies a The review, conducted before thesubtler concern: human capital.most recent AAFC cuts, found thatCanadas universities continue toBrent Derkatch, president and CEO of Canterra the current wheat breeding innovationproduce well-trained plant scientists. ButSeeds, says his biggest fear is that Canada system is no longer working for Westernwill they stay? becomes a net exporter of intellectual capital.MARCH 2026SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA 37'