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 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60MARCH 2017 GERMINATION.CA 13 PACKING & PALLETIZING COMPANY PPC PROVIDING CUSTOM BAGGING, TAGGING AND PALLETIZING SOLUTIONS BULK BAG FILLER PALLETIZER T: (204) 331-3000 www.ppcinc.ca E: tp@ppcinc.ca TAG PLACER “It’s a big question, whether the public consensus will be for us to go in that direction. CRISPR may help to persuade a lot of people,” he said. There is still a lot of work to be done, Kirigwi noted, and added it’s not as simple as using CRISPR to go in and make tweaks to the wheat genome to create exciting new varieties. “You still have to identify the genes you want to edit. There is still a lot we don’t understand,” he said. Clouding the Water Not all PGDC members were hailing gene editing techniques as the next big thing for their respective crops. Glen Hawkins, chair of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Pulses and Special Crops (PRCPSC), said the pulse varieties on the market have been developed through conven- tional breeding, and right now there’s no appetite on the part of industry or consumers for pulses modified through gene editing. “In terms of our markets in Europe and China and Japan, as soon as you put gene editing in the picture, it clouds the water in a hurry and creates another level of complex- ity you have to deal with,” he said. “Plus, those technologies are pricey. There’s not enough money in pulses right now to even think about that. Unless you’re in, say, corn and soybeans — the big-money crops — you can’t even begin to ask yourself those questions.” It’s not just corn and soybeans that are being used as a vehi- cle for gene editing techniques, though. Gene editing is being worked into plants like flax, noted Prairie Recommending Committee for Oilseeds (PRCO) chair Eric Fridfinnson. Canadian scientists worked with California-based Cibus to develop the first non-transgenic (non-GMO) glyphosate tolerant flax seed, which used gene editing in its development process. “It holds great promise, I think,” Fridfinnson said. “The regulatory issues are our next challenge. Gene editing is considered mutagenesis in Canada and the U.S. In Europe it’s mutagenesis too, but it’s considered new technology of course, and you’re dealing with the public and their willingness to accept it.” Rich Joy, chair of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley (PRCOB), said that gene editing holds promise for the barley sector. RECORDCROWDFORPGDC It was a record year for the PGDC meeting in terms of attendance, according to chair Tom Fetch, with 300 registrants. “That’s exciting, and I think part of the reason was the plenary session,” he said. The breakdown of cultivars recommended for registration was: PRCWRT: 13 wheat lines, 2 rye lines, 1 spelt line, 2 durum lines PRCOB: 4 oat lines, 6 barley lines PRCO: 1 flax line, 2 mustard lines PRCPSC: 7 dry bean lines, 2 faba bean lines, 3 yellow pea lines, 2 green pea lines, 2 lentil lines For minutes and other data from the 2017 meeting visit pgdc.ca. “It’s going to reinvent the thought process from the general public in regard to, ‘OK, so this isn’t a GMO.’ We’re just modifying what is already there to improve it. Once you get that across, I think it will affect public perception in a positive way,” he said. Changing Climate Another benefit of gene editing is its ability to create varieties better suited to the effects of climate change, Singer said. But University of Manitoba agro- meteorologist Paul Bullock, who also spoke at the plenary session, said the ag industry will have to be careful when it comes to adapting to climate change. He said climate data is spacially inconsistent, and showed a variety of study results from Canada that paint an unpredictable picture when it comes to drawing conclusions about what growing conditions of the future will be like. “You can’t look at climate change and say, ‘Based on this, here’s what we should be doing in agriculture.” Still, he noted there will be a desire in the future for longer-sea- son crops. Hawkins said the PRCPSC is keeping climate change in mind for the future. “If we face flood or drought, it creates challenges, and we may have to adapt to that by selecting our lines differently. Climate change isn’t going to just hammer us overnight — it’s a gradual thing, and we’ll do our best to adapt to the conditions we see ourselves in.”