crops in the future, whether it be heat stress, drought stress or water efficiency.” This is particularly important in areas of Canada with a thin layer (six inches or less) of topsoil. “If we’re going to conserve [topsoil] and con- tinue to be productive, adopting the newest practices and technologies — like no-till, which reduces erosion by an incredible amount — is the only way we’re going to be able to do that,” says Affleck. “While there are other countries in the world, like Ukraine, that are blessed with a metre-and-a-half of topsoil, this is not the case every- where and we have to be very careful with our resources going forward.” In Canada, particularly across the Prairies, summerfallow cultivation has been a source of soil erosion and soil moisture and organic matter loss. Before the introduction of INNOVATING FORTHEPLANET’SSAKE Growers have always been early adopters of new technology. As a result, seed companies and industry stakeholders are concentrating resources on plant science innovations and technologies that conserve and protect the environment. Kari Belanger herbicide-tolerant canola, Brent Derkatch, director of operations and business for Canterra Seeds, remem- bers spending his summers pulling a cultivator over fallow fields on the family farm. “Running steel through the field was one of the better tools, versus the chemistries and crop technolo- gies that were available,” Derkatch says. However, the environmental price was steep. “Because we were doing summer- fallow instead of minimum- or no-till, a lot of that soil ended up in ditches or getting washed away with rain.” For the past two decades or so, summerfallow acres across Western Canada have declined dramatically due to plant science innovations, such as the introduction of con- servation tillage, minimum tillage machinery, herbicide-tolerant crop- ping systems and low-cost, broad- spectrum herbicides. From a soil health and erosion perspective, this is a good thing, Derkatch says. Furthermore, according to the 2015 RIAS Inc. report prepared for CropLife Canada entitled The Value of Plant Science Innovations to Canadians, since 1990, decreases in summerfallow acres added 5.2 mil- lion tonnes of greenhouse gas reduc- tions through carbon sequestration. 44 GERMINATION.CA SEPTEMBER 2018 CANADIAN PRODUCERS are innovative and keen on adopting new tools that will help them conserve and protect the environment, says Ian Affleck, CropLife Canada’s executive director of plant biotechnology. Producers are supported by a vibrant seed industry focused on delivering plant science innovations to grow more food on less land while protecting biodiversity and conserving natural resources. “Farmers will adopt new technolo- gies as soon as they’re available if it will help them run their farm sustain- ably. So, you’re seeing the companies we represent increasingly develop new traits related to environmental sustainability,” says Affleck. “We’re going to see more stress-tolerant