MARCH 2018 GERMINATION.CA 55 Contact us for a free custom quote. you know you trust Inspectors you trust. Inspectors you know. 1-888-256-9557 cropinspect@agcall.com www.cropinspect.ca solution an “One of the biggest obstacles for the pulse market is flavour. Pulses are extremely nutritious, however consum- ers often don’t like the flavour of them when used in certain processed food products,” Frohlich says. As demand for ingredients like pulse flour increases, he says processors will be looking for ingredients that add good flavour — or none at all — to their products. That’s where breeders involved with PGDC come in, Frohlich adds. “Addressing flavour issues around pulse ingredients can potentially start at the breeding level.” As processors look for ingredients with qualities like improved flavour profiles, breeders continue to deal with new challenges and opportunities presented by new technology. The theme for this year’s PGDC plenary ses- sion was disruptive change and transformational technol- ogy. Speakers included Tim Sharbel, Global Institute for Food Security chair, and Erin Armstrong, industry and regulatory affairs director for Canterra Seeds. Sharbel spoke about launching an apomixis research program at the Global Institute for Food Security, located at the University of Saskatchewan. Apomixis is a natu- rally occurring phenomenon in certain types of plants like St. John’s wort and Kentucky bluegrass, which repro- duce seed asexually, whereby all offspring are genetically identical to the mother plant. It isn’t found in any food crops, but if apomixis could be successfully introduced into agriculture, Sharbel says it could be a disruptive technology. Essentially, it would enable the immediate fixation of any desired genotype and lead to faster, simpler breeding schemes. “People have been studying the biology of these asexual plants and animals for 100 years or so, but it was only 20 or 30 years ago that people started thinking about it in terms of agriculture,” he says. “There are a number of laboratories around the world studying apomixis. It’s worth billions of dollars if we can get it working.” Armstrong’s presentation focused on two value creation models for cereals she has been working on with Tom Steve, general manager of the Alberta Wheat Commission. Together they co-chair the Value Creation Working Group, a sub-committee within the federal government’s Grains Roundtable. It was formed in 2016 to inform the federal government as to the potential for a new royalty system for cereals. “The idea that value creation and capture could be a part of Canadian agriculture in the future is something that could really change how things work. We could see an influx of new investment in breeding and new opportunities for other companies and organizations to be involved,” says Mitchell Japp, PGDC chairperson.