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 44bear Hallmark Pacheco HyOctane ilkin Arion Saturn Polaris Bakker bear Hallmark Pacheco HyOctane ilkin Arion Saturn Polaris Bakker bear Hallmark Pacheco HyOctane e Platinum Gryphon Carlisle din Rimrock Frin Wellington e Platinum Gryphon Carlisle din Rimrock Frin Wellington e Platinum Gryphon Carlisle Whitebear Hallmark Pacheco din Rimrock Frin Wellington Whitebear Hallmark Pacheco din Rimrock Frin Wellington Patriot Maxine Platinum Gryphon Whitebear Hallmark Pacheco Patriot Maxine Platinum Gryphon Whitebear Hallmark Pacheco “My grandfather was a young man just finishing his degree,” Franck says. “He found this very interesting.” At that time in Europe, most plant breeding operations were started by farmers so they could have better varieties for their own farms, Franck explains. This was the beginning of PZO or Pflanzenzucht Oberlimpurg, which means plant breeding, and efforts focused on wheat and spelt breeding. PZO is one of the oldest plant breeding companies in Europe. Hanfried, Franck’s father, continued the work. This meant Franck was no stranger to agriculture or plant breeding. “I helped as a kid, and as a young student, I worked in the plant breeding department. Unlike some who grow up in a family business and seek to explore something different, Franck’s passion only grew. At the Helm “When I took over the company, I enjoyed travelling, which is why I was in Canada and the United States,” he says. “I tried to use what I had learned to make better varieties.” Ten years later, his efforts began to pay. Franck introduced Monopol, Vuka and Absolvent between 1982 and 1986. These German varieties gained the attention of farmers and soon started making headlines. They formed the genetic corner- stone of the red wheat movement. But it was Vuka — a utility grade, medium-hard, red winter wheat with high yield and medium winterhardiness — that opened up the market for Franck in Canada. “One day in 1983, I received a call from a Canadian farmer,” Franck says. “He asked me if I was in my office, and I said ‘yes.’ ‘Good, I’ll see you in 10 minutes,’ said the man at the other end of the line.” In 1865, Gregor Mendel first proposed three key principles, which contribute to our understanding of how inherited traits are passed from one generation to the next, be it plants or animals. These include the fundamental theory of heredity, the principle of segregation and the principle of independent assortment. Mendel was a German-speaking Augustinian monk whose conclusions were largely ignored at that time. Then in 1900, three independent scientists rediscovered Mendel’s published paper. It is Mendel who founded the modern science of genetics. W h it e b e a r H a ll m a r k P a c h e c o H y O c t a n e T r a c t io n TWO-ROW BARLEY Frin Wellington Viking Formosa Creemore Brick DURUM Q u a n t u m 6 0 6 S a b le W il k in A r io n S a t u r n P o la r is B a k k e r G o ld F ir e b a ll V o lt HARD RED SPRING WHEAT HARD RED WINTER WHEAT Patriot Maxine Platinum Gryphon Carlisle Harvard Stanford Princeton Keldin Rimrock HARD WHITE WINTER WHEAT TRITICALE NORTH AMERICAN VARIETIES JULY 2016 9 This farmer was Jurgen (Jock) Peill, a native German from Nova Scotia. He had read about Vuka in a German news- paper and wanted to buy Certified seed. After paying and going through all of the legal frameworks to import seed, he finally had access to plant it. The first year was a great success, Franck says, but the second year was a total failure. “This variety was not adapted to Canadian conditions,” he says. “The first year of success was an anomaly. I learned that this variety would never make it in the United States or Canada. You can’t bring European varieties to Canada, or vice versa, just as you can’t have French varieties in Germany or German varieties in France. But I wanted to know why.” In search of an answer, Franck travelled to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. “The first thing I learned is that the European stuff is much too late maturing and has no chance,” he says. “This has to do with different climate conditions across continents. In Canada, winters are longer and summers are warmer. The second lesson was that genetic variability of varieties grown in Canada was marginal because of KVD, or kernel visual distinguishability.”