JULY 2019 GERMINATION.CA 47 AT ITS ANNUAL meeting in Whistler, B.C., the Canadian Seed Trade Association is awarding the following people for moving their industry for- ward through dedication and innova- tive thinking. Plant Breeding and Genetics Award: Pierre Hucl In the world of Canadian wheat, Pierre Hucl looms very large. Hucl is the current senior spring wheat and canary seed breeder at the Crop Development Centre (CDC) in Saskatchewan. He is an interna- tionally recognized innovative plant breeder, having released over 50 cul- tivars of wheat, canaryseed and pulse crops. Several varieties he developed or co-developed have gained sig- nificant market share, including CDC Teal, CDC Plentiful, CDC Go and CDC Stanley. His latest release, CDC Landmark, is one of the top-yielding varieties in the CWRS class and is expected to be a major cultivar in the 2018/2019 crop year. CDC Landmark was selected by a panel of the International Wheat Initiative to be one of 10 cultivars for genome sequencing. This paved the way to identify the gene sequence for Sm1, the only gene available for resistance to the orange blossom wheat midge. He has also authored or coau- thored around 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts. Much of his published work has focused on end-use qual- ity in wheat and alternative uses for wheat. Hucl is also known as a valuable mentor for our next generation of plant breeders. Curtis Pozniak, wheat breeder at the Crop Development Centre in Saskatchewan, notes that Hucl has supervised 15 graduate stu- dents to completion, several of whom have become leaders in the research community. “Pierre is one of the most dedi- cated scientists I know, and it is not unusual to find Pierre in the wheat plots well into the evening, or in the phytotron, crossing and conducting experiments on a wintery weekend,” says Pozniak. “His commitment to his breeding and research program, to his technical team, and to the depart- ment and college is second to none.” Seed Achievement Award: Brian McNaughton You don’t meet a pioneer every day, but if you’ve ever crossed paths with Brian McNaughton, you have. McNaughton has been active in the Canadian seed industry since the mid 1980s, starting his career with Conti Seed in Carman, Man. He was initially charged with the task of set- ting up a comprehensive field trialing system across the Prairies. The next step was to figure out how to pro- duce parent seed and commercial volumes of F1 hybrid canola seed. Until this time, the Canadian canola experience had been entirely based on open-pollinated varieties. “Brian was THE pioneer in estab- lishing an entirely new industry in southern Alberta — the hybrid canola seed production industry,” says Dorothy Murrell, herself an honorary life member of the CSTA. “Each canola company has fol- lowed his lead and taken advantage of his developmental groundwork, whether it be with growers who were trained to manage the technical aspects of this new crop, or bee- keepers he engaged and supported to provide pollination services — something that didn’t exist in Alberta before Conti Seeds and Brian came on the scene.” McNaughton started HyTech Production Ltd. in 1998. HyTech has not stopped at canola. It has become involved in hybrid wheat, hybrid rye, sugar beets and mustard, and has expanded production regions from southern Alberta to British Columbia, Washington, California, and Chile. He was a founding member of the CSTA Hybrid Canola Committee, in which he remains engaged to this day. Honorary Life Membership: Patty Townsend If there’s a single word Patty Townsend is often associated with, it is “vision.” Townsend originally joined the CSTA board of directors as vice- president with a primary focus on government, member and public relations, strategic planning and gov- ernance. In 2011, she became CEO. It was the beginning of dramatic change for the organization, which was founded in 1923. “Over the years, Patty’s vision of what CSTA and the seed industry should be, coupled with her tenac- ity, drive and determination to get us there, has taken the organization to new levels on the domestic and inter- national front. CSTA is now the go-to organization for issues in seed-related matters,” says Ellen Sparry, general manager for Ontario’s C&M Seeds. Townsend focused on creating collaboration and consensus with producer organizations across the country — a key defining success of her time at CSTA. Her efforts in this area were highlighted by the forma- tion of Partners in Innovation, which became a cornerstone towards the success of achieving Bill C-18 that made Canada compliant with globally agreed-upon UPOV 91 protocols. “She managed to bring together farmers, government representatives, regulators and seed industry people into a great atmosphere looking for a win-win seed law. SAA was invited to be part of this process, and since then we have [recognized this] as a milestone to replicate in other coun- tries that are transitioning from UPOV 78 to 91,” says Diego Risso, executive director of the Seed Association of the Americas.