Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 5210 Jacobs notes that Bayer is in the early stages of developing a commercial hybrid wheat program. It launched its first wheat variety this year in Ukraine. “It’s only in the last six years that we’ve seen a substantial opportunity for wheat,” he says, adding that this renewed focus was due, in part, to the expected innovations in wheat improvement. Although the IWGSC includes members from around the globe, he credits Pozniak and the Canadian researchers with helping it through its final stretch. Pozniak’s wheat breeding program, with funding from a number of partners including Genome Canada, Genome Prairie and the Western Grains Research Foundation, worked closely with NRGene and the IWGSC to complete the wheat genome sequence two-to-three years ahead of schedule. Jacobs shares that Curtis, his team and Canada, in gen- eral, were especially important in the end, as they secured funding at a moment when there was a breakthrough technol- ogy that needed it. Opening the Door For Pozniak, the door to a new world of wheat has been opened, but scientists have yet to truly understand what’s on the other side. Pozniak and his team are already working on sequencing the genomes of two Canadian varieties. “We’re excited to start comparing how wheat cultivars are different from one another, and understand some of those biological questions about what makes Canadian wheat unique and what makes varieties different from one another at a genomic level,” he says. “We’ve already been able to use the data to develop a number of useful molecular tools wheat breeders are using for cultivar development. Ultimately, we can improve breeding efficiency ... and anytime you can do that, it will result in better varieties for our producers.” Marc Zienkiewicz John Jacobs is Bayer’s representative on the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium committee. WHERE ON THE WEB For more information on the Chinese Spring genome sequence and download information, visit wheatgenome.org. Register today for the “Investing in Certified Seed” training program for retailers and crop advisors. Learn about Quality Assurance, Innovation, Traceability and the Return on Investment for your farmer customers. Go to caar.org/training/investing-in-certified-seed to register. Visit seedgrowers.ca for more information on Certified Seed. *Eligible for .5 Continuing Education Units (CEU) credits CSGA_CropAdvisor_Ad_Germination_7.125x4.75.indd 1 2016-05-04 1:54:10 PM