b'INSIDE THE NEW FOOD-MINDED BREEDING ECONOMYBreeders and seed companies are listening to chefs and food experts. Heres why.Marc ZienkiewiczFOR MOST OF the last century, plant breedingral fit for food applications. But unlike many was measured by one yardstick: productiv- high-protein crops that collapse in the field, ity. Bigger yields. Tougher disease resistance.PS Boost holds its own agronomically. Strong Longer shelf life. Traits that made crops easieryields, reliable standability, and one of the to ship, store and sellnot necessarily betterhighest seed coat integrity scores in Manitobas to eat. seed guide have made it a fast favourite among But the ground is shifting. From thePrairie growers.Prairies to the test kitchens of Oregon to theIt bridges the gap between farmer pro-asparagus fields of Ontario, breeders and foodductivity and what processors actually want to innovators are tearing up the old playbook.buy, Greaves says. Thats where the future is.Their new metric? Whether crops can deliverFor growers, the results are tangible. One not just yield, but valueto farmers, chefs,long-term Manitoba pea farmer reported consumers, and a food system under pressure. higher protein yields than with competing This is the story of three cropspeas,varieties. A Saskatchewan grower went further: peppers, and asparagusand the people bet- Its my favourite variety right now, he told ting that flavour, protein, and technology arePitura Seeds.the next battlegrounds in food innovation. Greaves sees PS Boost as part of a bigger mission: aligning genetic innovation withTom Greaves serves as president of Pitura Seeds, the company Protein Wars: The Prairie Pea Goes Global consumer food trends. We need to evolve behind pea variety PS Boost.Protein isnt just a buzzwordits a bat- not just to hit higher yields, but to meet the tleground, says Tom Greaves, president ofdemands of what people are eating, he says.Manitoba-based Pitura Seeds. Hes talking aboutFrom Flavour Blindness to Flavour Firsthis companys new yellowOn the U.S. West Coast, Lane Selman has pea variety, PS Boost,been asking a question that sounds almost which is engineered tonave: what if breeders compete on both fronts:designed crops to taste the nutrition demandedgood?by consumers and theSee more on Selman, a researcher at agronomic performanceSeed World 360! Oregon State University farmers need to survive. with a degree in agron-Canadas plant-based protein industry hasomy, spent years evaluat-already topped $1 billion in value, driven bying crops for yield andSee more onyounger demographics cutting back on meatdisease resistance in mul- Seed World 360!and food companies infusing protein into eve- tiple environments. But rything from snacks to smoothies. That surgeshe noticed a glaring omission. We werent has created a new reality for breeders: cropsevaluating them for flavour, she recalls. And arent commodities anymore. Theyre ingredi- that seemed crazybecause food starts in theLane Selman is a U.S. researcher ents, tailored for end-use markets. field. who founded the Variety PS Boost was originally identified not byHer first experiment involved peppers. SheShowcase, which brings chefs and breeders, but by an end user. Its amino acidbrought in chefs, asked them to saut, roast,plant breeders together to show off new culinary creations to the profile and high protein levels made it a natu- and taste-test nine different breeding lines. Thepublic. Photo: Shawn Linehan18 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA NOVEMBER 2025'