b'The HeadlinesAdvisor, which the company says enablesBARLEY COMMISSIONS ANNOUNCE FORMATION OF THE CANADIAN better decision making with a predic- BARLEY RESEARCH COALITIONtive model that combines the Bayer seedThe Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission genetics library with regional seed per- (SaskBarley), Alberta Barley and Manitoba Wheat and formance data to help predict the bestBarley Growers Association announced the launch of the performing hybrids for each of a farmersCanadian Barley Research Coalition (CBRC), a national fields. According to the company, per- not-for-profit organization that will facilitate long-term formance testing from 2017-2019 demon- investments aimed at improving profitability and com-strated a consistent 6-9 bushel per acrepetitiveness for Western Canadian barley farmers. CBRC yield advantage in farmer field trials.will facilitate a collaborative approach to funding regional Planned pre-commercial expansions forand national research projects in variety development and 2021 include an additional three states,agronomy.vastly growing the number of U.S. corn acres. RESEARCH HUB PILOT TAKES OFFCanadas first laboratory combining digital data analysis of PLOTVISION FORMS THE BASIS OF SASK STARTUP plant genes and traits with the latest precision agriculture Efficiency in seed development is get- technologies is gearing up for a two-year pilot project this ting a boost thanks to PlotVision, a newyear at the University of Saskatchewans Global Institute image analysis software product fromfor Food Security (GIFS). The unique Omics and Precision the University of Saskatchewans PlantAgriculture Laboratory (OPAL) combines the latest agtech Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centretechnologies with digital DNA sequence information (P2IRC). Developed by P2IRC research(genomics) to provide a complete profile of plant sam-associate William van der Kamp underples. Under the leadership of GIFS Director of Genomics the leadership of USask computer scientistand Bioinformatics Andrew Sharpe, OPAL will support Ian Stavness, PlotVision is a Software as aprecision agriculture using high-throughput digital pheno-Service (SaaS) product for analysis of agri- typing of crops. cultural field imagery that has become the basis for an early-stage start-up. PlotVision identifies individual field plots within unmanned aerial vehicle images and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze their colour, 3D shape and more, helping to predict outcomes such as harvest yield and disease resistance. RESEARCHUSASK RESEARCH PROJECTS AWARDED MORE THAN $8 MILLION IN FUNDINGThirty University of Saskatchewan (USask) crop research projects have been awarded a total of more than $8 million through Saskatchewans Agricultural Development Fund (ADF), a program jointly supported by the federal and provincial governments and supplemented by industry partners. The ADF program is supported through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a five-year $388 million investment by the federal and provincial governments in strategic initiatives for Saskatchewan agri- Seeds of Wildflowers & Garden Flowersculture. Major projects announced involv-ing USask researchers include improving\x1f Regional, Special Use & Custom Mixturesdisease resistance in crops, extending the\x1f Hundreds of Species in Stockgrowing season by developing early-sow- For a catalog, call: 303.431.7333 or email :sales@applewoodseed.coming, fast-germinating seeds, and improvingShop online at applewoodseed.comwheat breeding and production.MARCH 2020 GERMINATION.CA 63'