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 6054 GERMINATION.CA MARCH 2017 TheHeadlines Submissions welcome: news@issuesink.com SCIENTISTS HAVE DEVELOPED ANIMPROVED METHODFOR CAPTURING LONGERDNA FRAGMENTS. John Sorby, new sales director for Thunder Seed. “PRODUCERS ARE COMMITTED TO INVESTINGIN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH.” –DaveSefton more than 23 years of seed manage- ment experience to the position. “I’m excited to be working with a family-owned company that has a strong focus on the success of grow- ers in the region,” Sorby says. Sorby will help continue to expand the Thunder Seed business throughout North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota. He will work closely with the Thunder Seed team of district sales managers to provide personal support to growers in the area. Sorby has held positions with several seed companies, including Agsco, WinField and, most recently, Pinnacle Agriculture. POLICY PLEASED WITH GROWTH STRATEGY Soy Canada says it is pleased with the agriculture growth strategy outlined in a report released last month by the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. The second report of the Council chaired by McKinsey Managing Partner Dominic Barton emphasizes the need to unleash the growth potential of Canada’s agri- culture and food sector. Specifically, the study recommends that the federal government “take a target- ing approach to removing growth obstacles” and “galvanize” the sector around a growth strategy agenda. PRODUCT XITEBIO INTRODUCES NEW LINE OF BIOLOGICALS XiteBio Technologies Inc. announces the registration of three new early post-emergent biologicals: XiteBio Yield+ for Canola; XiteBio Yield+ for Corn, Wheat & Barley; and XiteBio Yield+ for Legumes. These products are powered by the XiteBio Yield+ platform based on patented phos- phorous (P) solubilizing PGPR (Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria). All these products can be applied at the 0-6 leaf stage tank, the company said. The XiteBio Yield+ platform is a naturally occurring biological based on a proprietary PGPR that has been assisting growers in U.S. markets since 2014 and is now also available to Canadian growers. “The active ingredient is a unique strain of Bacillus firmus, a com- petent and vigorous colonizer of plant roots which has distinct P-solubilization characteristics that work through- out the growing season to aid plants to maximize growth and cope with stress conditions”, says Manas Banerjee, president and CEO of XiteBio. STRONGFIELD WINS SEED OF THE YEAR Seed of the Year West announces that Strongfield was selected as its 2016-17 winner. Strongfield was developed by John Clarke and the wheat breeding team at AAFC Swift Current. Strongfield was available for the first time as Certified seed for the 2006 season. By 2007 it was the No. 1 durum in acres in Western Canada. At its peak (2011) Strongfield held two-thirds of all durum acres in Western Canada. SYNGENTA INTRODUCES ROUNDUP READY 2 XTEND TRAIT TECHNOLOGY TO SOYBEAN PORTFOLIO Syngenta Canada has added Roundup Ready 2 Xtend trait technology to its soybean varieties. The Roundup Ready 2 Xtend trait provides tolerance to both glyphosate (Group 9) and dicamba (Group 4) herbicides, allowing growers to use multiple modes of action to help manage tough-to- control weeds including glyphosate-resistant giant rag- weed, common ragweed and Canada fleabane. RESEARCH FUNDING COMES THROUGH FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS Through a continuing co-funding partnership with the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) and other producer commodity groups, Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) is pleased to announce more than $500,000 of new funding for 10 crop-related research projects. “Producers are committed to investing in agricultural research,” says WGRF Board Chair Dave Sefton. “WGRF is pleased to be supporting 10 new promising research pro- jects in almost all crops, that will likely lead to improved crop production for western Canadian producers.” A full listing of projects will be posted at westerngrains.com once research contracts are in place. IT’S IN THE DNA Scientists have developed an improved method for cap- turing longer DNA fragments, doubling the size up to 7,000 DNA bases that can be analyzed for novel genes, which provide plants with immunity to disease. RenSeq (Resistance gene enrichment sequencing) is the method to sequence Resistance (R) genes that confer disease resistance in plants. Researchers at the Earlham Institute (EI), The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and the James Hutton Institute, have found a new way to decipher these large stretches of DNA. Using the PacBio, which can read longer stretches of DNA in their entirety, along with the developed NB-LRR gene workflow “RenSeq,” the data not only targets R genes but also the important regulatory regions of DNA — promoters and terminators that signal when to start making a protein and when to stop.