b'A look at seed industry developments around the globe.Australian multi-partnerSTATUS AUSTRALIA tion, artificial intelligence andfarmers and end users.inititative to improveChickpea, lentil and fabaspeed breeding to identifyBarley is an important bean growers across Australiaand stack novel and superiorcrop on my farm and on grain crop yield andCanadiancan expect significantly moreDNA variants for yield andfarms across the country, said national barley cluster. productive crops within theyield-related traits. He saysCody Glenn, CBRC Chair and next decade due to a newby incorporating geneticfarmer from Climax, SK. We collaborative, internationaldiversity from other lan- are really pleased to have this research project to improvedraces and employing thelong-term research funding crop yields. aforementioned advancedthat will help keep barley a The $11.02 million multi- breeding techniques and AI,profitable and sustainable partner investment includeswe believe we can achieveoption in our crop rotations.$6.1m from Grains Researcha 1.5% increase in geneticAAFC is investing up and Development Corporationgain, which would be unprec- to $5.25 million through (GRDC) for the achievingedented. They will be col- the AgriScience Program improved genetic gain forlaborating with national Clusters Component, anyield in chickpea, faba beanpulse breeding programs,initiative under the Sustainableand lentil using genetic diver- including Chickpea BreedingCanadian Agriculturalsity project, led by MurdochAustralia, the National LentilPartnership. Additionally, overUniversity. This will seeBreeding Program based in$4.3 million will come from 12Australian pulse breeders gainVictoria and the University ofproducer and private organi-access to advanced knowl- Adelaide-led National Fabazations across the country.edge, tools and technologies,Bean Breeding Program. The Canadian barley and novel sources of germ- industry must look to the plasm to broaden geneticfuture and ensure barley is diversity in pulse cultivars andSTATUS CANADA a competitive crop choice ultimately drive yield gain. Agriculture and Agri-Foodfor farmers in terms of yield, Project leader ProfessorCanada announced a newpest and disease resistance Rajeev Varshney FRS, direc- Canadian National Barleyand crop quality, said Jill tor of the Centre for Crop andCluster, a significant initiativeMcDonald, CBRC President Food Innovation at Murdochaimed at advancing barleyand SaskBarley Executive University, says chickpea,production in Canada. With aDirector. Research con-lentil and faba bean produc- value of $9.6 million over fiveducted through this Cluster tion is currently hamstrungyears, this Cluster will drivewill help us meet these chal-due to limited genetic diver- research efforts to enhancelenges head on by building on sity, resulting in meagre yieldthe competitiveness and resil- the advances we made in the improvement of less than 0.5ience of the Canadian barleyprevious Cluster and ensuring per cent each year. industry. barley can remain productive Ultimately, we wantThe Barley Cluster repre- and sustainable. SWto develop high-yielding,sents a united front in secur-climate-resilient chickpea,ing the future of the barley lentil and faba bean varie- value chain. Administered ties which can deliver greaterby the Canadian Barley profitability to growers acrossResearch Coalition (CBRC), Australia, he says. With thisthe new Barley Cluster will investment, we will be able tofund research projects that implement modern genom- advance feed barley, barley ics approaches coupled withgenetics, agronomy, disease huge genetic diversity. resistance and sustainability Varshney says research- to make it a more resilient and ers will use genomic predic- profitable crop for Canadian SEPTEMBER 2024SEEDWORLD.COM /47'