mca2022dev, Author at Manitoba Crop Alliance

Eric Johnson, Research Officer, University of Saskatchewan

mca2022dev on March 28, 2022

Follow @ericusaskweeds on Twitter!

Eric Johnson is a Research Officer for the Agronomic Crop Imaging Lab in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). He is also a member of the Resistant Wild Oat Action Committee. Eric earned his Bachelor of Science and his master’s degree from USask. He lives in Battleford with his wife Trish.

Where did you work before USask?

I started my career working with Sask Agriculture in extension as an agricultural representative (now obsolete), and then I became a regional crop specialist. In 1996, I moved to the Scott Research Farm with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada where I started doing weed control research, and was also the test site manager for the Pesticide Minor Use Program until 2015. After that I joined the weeds lab with Dr. Chris Willenborg at USask until 2019 when I moved to the Agronomic Crop Imaging Lab.

What got you interested in this area of work?

Because I worked in the Battleford area with Saskatchewan Agriculture, I had a very close working relationship with the research scientists at the Scott Research Farm. Once they were nearing retirement, an opportunity to work on research became available and I was ready for a new challenge. I’d spent 15 years or so working in extension and I always felt that it would be much easier to do extension if I was actually doing the research myself. The change to research seemed like a new challenge and opportunity where I could combine the best of both worlds.

Tell us a bit about the Resistant Wild Oat Action Committee.

The idea of the Resistant Wild Oat Action Committee came forward to the Canadian Weed Science Society from a farmer from central Alberta, Ken Espheter, and Neil Harker, a retired weed scientist. There was an active Wild Oat Action Committee in the 1970s which originally did all the work on dormancy and the ecology and biology of wild oat that we know today. In the 1990s we ended up with quite a number of effective herbicides at controlling wild oats and, at this time, although there was some resistance developing, the perceptions were that there would be a never-ending pipeline of new wild oat herbicides, so the committee came to an end.

Today, the Resistant Wild Oat Action Committee includes 12 members of farmers, agronomists, industry as well as research and extension people. Our mission is that “we are a cross-industry committee devoted to developing herbicide resistant wild oat management solutions through producer engagement, knowledge transfer and research.” What we are trying to do is not only conduct research and extension, but engage producers in the process so they are involved in developing the solutions.

We received funding from Manitoba Crop Alliance, Alberta Wheat Commission, Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission for a two-year pilot project to engage producers in developing solutions for resistant wild oats. We have developed a producer group in central Alberta who are conducting field projects and meet periodically to discuss resistance testing with growers who haven’t done it before. The Resistant Wild Oat Action Committee has developed extension materials in the form of infographics that are available on our website. We have also initiated a testing project with selected producers who are suspicious that they have resistant wild oat but have never tested for it. The producers are asked to fill out a short questionnaire. The testing project will involve 30 to 40 producers across Western Canada. At the end of the project, we will conduct a follow-up evaluation on the producer’s perspective of the value of testing.

Unfortunately, we’ve had to deal with COVID-19 and I think we could have had a lot more momentum by having face-to-face meetings rather than trying to do everything virtually. We will be doing an evaluation of the impact of this pilot project after the second year to find out what impact it has had, and what other things could be done to increase that impact or make a difference.

If farmers are interested in resistance testing or want to learn more about it, they can watch this videoabout understanding resistant wild oats on the Canadian Weed Science Society website, email wildoataction@gmail.com or follow @RWildOat on Twitter.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

Farmers provide funding and support two ways. They provide funding through the producer groups, and through direct support from those who are volunteering their time on the committee. We have some extension people from the producer groups that are providing human resource support by volunteering on the committee. We wouldn’t be able to address some of the current research gaps or engage more farmers without this support.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

I think the main benefits from this funding are hopefully to raise the profile of resistant wild oats, develop farmer-led solutions to manage herbicide resistant wild oats and produce readily available extension materials. If we can get farmers engaged in the research and development of solutions, they will benefit greatly. The long-term benefit from this pilot project for farmers will be to have an ongoing Resistant Wild Oat Action Committee.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I really enjoying gardening, and I golf a little bit in the summer and curl in the winter. I’m getting close to retirement, so I’m going to have to develop some more hobbies!

What is your favourite crop?

I’ve worked on 60 different crop types in my career. I haven’t done any work on it in awhile, but I really liked working with hemp when I was working with it. I’m fortunate that I’ve had the opportunity to work with just about every crop that we can grow in Western Canada.

What get’s you most excited about your work?

Right now, the fact that we are starting to work in the digital age of agriculture is exciting. When I joined the Agronomic Crop Imaging Lab, I thought using satellite/drone imagery was way beyond me. But, because we have some really brilliant post-docs and have attracted some really bright students, I’ve been able to actually understand how they do things. It’s really interesting and it has been quite exciting to see the types of applications we’ve been able to make use of with that type of research.

Follow @ericusaskweeds on Twitter!

Manitoba Crop Alliance Elects Officer Positions For 2022/23

mca2022dev on March 16, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, March 16,2022 (Carman, MB) – Manitoba Crop Alliance is proud to introduce its new board executive for the upcoming year.

Last week, Robert Misko was elected as Chair, Jonothan Hodson was elected as Vice-Chair and Warren McCutcheon was elected as Secretary.

“It is an honour to be elected as chair for the MCA board of directors. I look forward to working with the new and existing directors for the coming year,” says Misko.

“As a representative of the farming community, I believe it is important we build strong connections and work together towards the same goal: to continuously improve the competitiveness and profitability of spring and winter wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax for Manitoba farmers.”

Misko farms 6,500 acres with his wife and children near Roblin. Misko’s previous and current board experience includes Reeve for the Rural Municipality (RM) of Hillsburg, Association of Manitoba Municipalities director for the Parkland Region, delegate for Manitoba Pool and Agricore, director with one of MCA’s founding organizations(Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association), director for Cereals Canada, and director and research representative for Western Grains Research Foundation. He is currently Head of Council for the RM of Roblin and sits on the Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation Board.

Hodson is a fifth-generation farmer from Lenore with a keen interest in on-farm research. His mixed farm features a wide variety of crops in any given year – including spring wheat, canola, soybeans, grain corn, barley, yellow peas and some forage crops – as well as a Black Angus cow/calf operation. Hodson previously served as a director for one of MCA’s founding organizations(Manitoba Corn Growers Association), as well as the Manitoba Angus Association, and he is currently a director for the Valleyview Co-op.

“I’m extremely excited to have the opportunity to serve as MCA’s vice-chair,” says Hodson. “MCA is an organization focused on research, with a goal of creating sustainability gains for farmers throughout Manitoba.”

McCutcheon farms with his wife, Meghan, and their two girls near the Carman/Homewood area. He is the third generation on their family farm and alongside his dad, Shawn, grows corn, edible beans, seed soybeans, wheat and canola across 3,000 acres. McCutcheon has previous board experience with one of MCA’s founding organizations (Manitoba Corn Growers Association), as well as the Carman Golf and Curling Club. He also spent 10 years competing at the highest levels of hockey, where he developed the leadership skills he now brings to MCA’s board.

“I am extremely passionate about agriculture and believe we have many challenges facing our industry,” says McCutcheon. “I got involved with MCA to help navigate these issues, so our farms can continue to be successful. I also want to ensure the dollars being contributed by farmers are returning the highest possible value to them.”

For more information about MCA’s Board and Crop Committees, please visit mbcropalliance.ca/about/board-crop-committees.

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About Manitoba Crop Alliance:

Manitoba Crop Alliance is a non-profit organization established August 1, 2020 representing over 9,000 farmer-members. Manitoba Crop Alliance puts their farmer-members first and strives to continuously improve the competitiveness and profitability of all crops represented by the organization by focusing on four main areas: research, agronomy, market access and development, and communications. It is through investment in these key areas that Manitoba Crop Alliance can ensure wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax are sustainable production choices for Manitoba farmers. For more information, visit mbcropalliance.ca.

For more information, please contact:

Pam de Rocquigny
Chief Executive Officer
204-745-6661
pam@mbcropalliance.ca

Manitoba Crop Alliance launches call for Whole Farm Research program letters of intent

mca2022dev on March 14, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, March 14, 2022 (Carman, MB) – The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is now accepting letters of intent (LOIs) for new projects under the Whole Farm Research Program.

The Whole Farm Research program is a whole-farm, cross-commodity approach to research. This research is not crop-specific and leads to innovative solutions that will benefit Manitoba producers now and into the future.

“Now that the Whole Farm Research Program is in its second year, we’re excited to build off the success of last year’s call for proposals and keep growing this important, multi-disciplinary research,” says Katherine Stanley, Research Program Manager, Special Crops at MCA. “This program continues to be driven by the valuable input and carefully considered priorities voiced by Manitoba farmers.”

Whole Farm Research priorities include crop rotation innovation, soil health, cover crop and intercropping, pest management, and water. General principles for MCA funded Whole Farm Research projects are:

Innovative and forward-thinking.
Designed to answer farmers questions or resolve issues.
Solution-oriented, with actionable outcomes that producers can implement in their operations.
A pathway to assess and integrate new/next technology into Manitoba cropping systems.
Another channel to communicate and collaborate with other organizations, consumers and the public, in Manitoba and across Canada.
An opportunity to enhance communication with consumers and the public.

“Not all crop production issues are crop specific, which is why the Whole Farm Research Program is so valuable to Manitoba farmers,” says Boris Michaleski, farmer chair on the Whole Farm Research Committee and director with MCA.

“The cross-commodity or ‘Whole Farm’ research model encourages researchers and organizations Canada-wide to collaborate in unique ways. The goal of this approach is to discover efficiencies and solutions to a variety of issues, making farmers more profitable and sustainable, not only in Manitoba but across Canada.”

LOIs will be accepted until Wednesday, April 13, 2022 for projects to begin in 2023. MCA will consider proposals of up to five years in length related to grain production and value‐added processing. An overriding priority is improving profitability for Manitoba’s barley, corn, flax, wheat and/or sunflower producers.

In 2021, the Whole Farm Research Program’s inaugural year, MCA’s call for LOIs resulted in funding for three projects that will begin in 2022. For more information, please visit our blog.

To learn more about MCA’s Whole Farm Research Program or to review the LOI eligibility criteria, please visit mbcropalliance.ca/projects/whole-farm-research.

For more information, please contact:

Katherine Stanley

Research Program Manager, Special Crops

204-898-4122

katherine@mbcropalliance.ca

Raju Soolanayakanahally, Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

mca2022dev on March 8, 2022

Follow @raju_aafc on Twitter!

Based in Saskatoon, Raju Soolanayakanahally, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). Raju completed both his B.Sc. in Agriculture and M.Sc. in Crop Physiology at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru, India. He then moved to Canada and earned his Ph.D. in Forest Sciences from the University of British Columbia (UBC). He has been working with AAFC since 2011.

Where did you work before AAFC?

I grew up in India and moved to Canada in 2005. Prior to working with AAFC, I completed my Ph.D. at UBC in Forest Sciences. During my Ph.D., I attempted to better understand adaptation to north-temperate and boreal environments in an extensive range-wide collection of balsam poplar using phenology, ecophysiology and genetic polymorphisms. After my Ph.D., I was initially hired at Indian Head, where my research focused on the development and evaluation of new poplar and willow feedstocks for bioenergy opportunities, carbon sequestration and for environmental services for use in agroforestry. Later, I relocated to Saskatoon in early 2016.

What got you interested in this area of work?

I come from a farming background. My father and mother ran our family farm back in India, and I spent my childhood with chickens running around the yard, fresh fruits and vegetables just around the corner, and fresh milk everyday. Agriculture was my upbringing and that led me to pursue a B.Sc. in agriculture. I was the first one in my family to pursue agriculture as a career.

Tell us a bit about the Adapting wheat to arid environments: mining Canadian germplasm for reduced night-time water loss and improved water productivity project you’re working on.

Water use by crops isn’t a big concern if rainfall is abundant in the growing season. But with the growing concerns of climate change and following a year like 2021 where growing season precipitation was lower than average, improving “water productivity” is a focus for the Adapting wheat to arid environments: mining Canadian germplasm for reduced night-time water loss and improved water productivity project. This project was funded in collaboration last year by Manitoba Crop Alliance, Alberta Wheat Commission, Sask Wheat Development Commission and Western Grains Research Foundation, and the purpose of this research is to look at how we can minimize unproductive water loss at nighttime in Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat.

During daytime, plants fix carbon dioxide (CO2) at the expense of water loss to the atmosphere through tiny pores (stomata) on leaf surfaces. Generally, this is defined as productive water use. However, plants also lose water at night, but in the absence of sunlight, they can’t fix CO2, so they end up losing water without producing biomass. We define this as unproductive water use.

When we look at how many millions of hectares of wheat is produced in Canada, if every plant starts to save 50 millimetres of water at nighttime, we are talking millions of litres of water becoming available during the daytime. For example, if there are 20 days with no precipitation or rainfall, due to savings of this nighttime water the plant can now extend itself for an additional five or six days without getting to terminal stress from drought.

Through this project we are investigating a heritage bread wheat panel (1842-2018) to look at the direction of trait selection over time. We’ve chosen the most popular varieties coming out of CWRS breeding programs in Swift Current (semi-arid climate) and Brandon (cool, moist climate). We want to understand how the varieties bred in two different ecozones have been selected for nighttime water-saver traits. If there are lines with low nighttime water losses, we use them in our breeding program to rapidly adapt our wheat plants for climate change.

The other aspect we are investigating is waxiness on the wheat leaves. When the sun intensity falls on the leaf surface, the wax layer deflects the light, and if there is no wax layer the leaf gets stressed rapidly, thus affecting their photosynthetic carbon gain. In order to keep the canopy cooler, the plant starts to lose water at rapid speed. We are looking at wheat varieties that have optimized wax profiles, so not only will they help with cooling during daytime, but they will also help with non-stomatal water loss by having wax barriers.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

Coming from India, we don’t have similar mechanisms where farmers contribute research dollars through the checks-offs when they sell their grain. I personally appreciate the funding and support provided by wheat producers in the area of stress physiology. It is an excellent, strategic investment. In my role as a plant physiologist, I work closely with wheat breeders to identify wheat lines with climate-resilience traits (heat tolerance, drought tolerance, etc.), allowing breeders to make them available to producers on an ongoing basis.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

Wheat breeders are at the forefront of adapting wheat genetics to future climates and as a plant physiologist, I am actively involved in screening wheat lines that impart yield-stability traits. Climate-adapted, superior genetic material may then be used as a donor for introgression in order to improve breeder-defined elite wheat germplasm. Consequently, farmers have access to new climate-resilient wheat genetics for adopting to future climates.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I enjoy walking around Saskatoon’s neighbourhoods and observing trees, especially when the leaves come out in spring and change color in the autumn. Events such as these reflect changes in the climate and adjustments by city trees.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?

In the early days at AAFC, I was full of great ideas but my mentor said “You need to learn to observe and listen, and then you will realize the problems that need solving.” To put it another way, get out of your lab, walk around, observe, then bring the problems back to the lab.

What is your favourite crop?

From a Canadian perspective, canola and wheat are my two favorite crops. Each of them is very resilient in its own way. But poplars are a lot of fun to work with, and I am passionate about them!

Follow @raju_aafc on Twitter!

Manitoba Crop Alliance Launches 2022 Advance Payments Program

mca2022dev on March 1, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, March 1, 2022 (Carman, MB) – The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is now accepting applications for the 2022 Advance Payments Program (APP), with funds to be issued starting April 1, 2022.

The APP is a federal loan program administered by MCA on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). It offers Canadian farmers marketing flexibility through interest-free and low-interest cash advances, allowing them to sell their agricultural products based on market conditions rather than the need for cash flow.

“The APP is a valuable resource for farmers across Manitoba,” says Pam de Rocquigny, CEO of MCA. “We are proud to provide personalized, friendly, small-town service to all our APP clients to make their experience with the program as smooth as possible.”

MCA provides cash advances on over 35 different crop kinds, including cereals, grain corn, oilseed crops, pulses, speciality crops, hay and grasses, and honey. Farmers can access up to $1 million per program year in advances based on the value of their agricultural product.

AAFC pays the interest on the first $100,000 advanced to a producer. For interest-bearing cash advances, MCA’s interest rate is competitive with major banks and credit unions.

“As an APP administrator for more than 40 years, MCA is committed to offering the exceptional level of service our clients have come to expect,” says de Rocquigny. “This commitment is fully defined in our APP Service Standards, which are available on our website.”

For more information about the APP – including 2022 application forms, rates and fees, and important dates and deadlines – visit mbcropalliance.ca.

For more information:

Cole Christensen

Communications Manager

403-589-3529

cole@mbcropalliance.ca

About Manitoba Crop Alliance:
Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is a non-profit organization established Aug. 1, 2020 representing over 9,000 farmer-members. MCA puts its farmer-members first and strives to continuously improve the competitiveness and profitability of all crops represented by the organization. We do this by investing farmer levy dollars into meaningful, independent research, valuable knowledge and targeted advocacy. Through these investments, we can ensure wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax are sustainable production choices for Manitoba farmers. For more information, visit mbcropalliance.ca.

Manitoba Crop Alliance Welcomes New Board Of Directors

mca2022dev on February 17, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022 (Carman, MB) – Effective immediately after the conclusion of the Manitoba Crop Alliance’s (MCA) 2022 annual general meeting, there will be a few new faces representing Manitoba farmers at a provincial and national level.

Today MCA officially introduced its 2022 board of directors, including three new members: Carl Bangert (Beausejour), RauriQually, (Dacotah) and Boris Michaleski (Ashville). Bangertis an existing delegate of the Corn Committee, while Qually and Michaleski are delegates of the Wheat and Barley Committee.

The new directors join eight returning directors, including:

Jonothan Hodson (Lenore) – Corn Committee
Warren McCutcheon (Carman) – Corn Committee
Gregg Fotheringham (Reston) – Sunflower Committee
Mark McDonald (Virden) – Sunflower Committee
Eric Fridfinnson (Arborg) – Flax Committee
Nick Matheson (Stonewall) – Flax Committee
Robert Misko (Roblin) – Wheat and Barley Committee
Ryan Hueging (Woodlands) – Wheat and Barley Committee

Each of the new directors were elected from their respective crop committees during meetings held in January. Together, the new board will be tasked with carrying out the organization’s 2022 strategic plan, revolving around a central goal of maximizing farmer levy dollars by investing in meaningful, independent research, valuable knowledge and targeted advocacy, says Chief Executive Officer Pam de Rocquigny.

“Our strategic plan features five objectives to meet our overall organizational goals, as well as a strong focus on meaningful and measurable goals,” she says. “Having a strong plan in place is the first step towards achieving real results for our farmers and I am excited to have a new board – including new faces, perspectives and areas of passion – in place to drive this plan forward. It’s going to be a great year for MCA and Manitoba farmers.”

The 2022 strategic plan is available here.

Manitoba Crop Alliance awards six students with 2021/22 bursaries

mca2022dev on February 17, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, February 17, 2022 (Carman, MB) – Today Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) has awarded six students from Manitoba with MCA 2021/22 bursaries valued at $2000 each. The MCA 2021/22 bursary recipients are George Meggison from Goodlands, Jada Ricard from Baldur, Joelle Little from McConnell, Nicole Jonk from Bruxelles, Simon Hodson from Lenore, and Taylor Mutch from Crystal City.

“Congratulations to all of the MCA 2021/22 bursary winners and thank you to everyone who submitted applications,” says Fred Greig, Chair of MCA. “Through the establishment of this bursary program, MCA hopes to encourage and support students studying work in or supporting the agriculture industry.”

The MCA 2021/22 bursary program was established this year and intends to assist with the financial needs of students who are enrolled in a post-secondary agricultural program within the Province of Manitoba. MCA received 14 applications, and six bursaries were presented today during MCA’s virtual Annual General Meeting. Bursary applicants needed to meet the following criteria:

have completed their first or second year of post-secondary education at the college or university level (Diploma or Degree) and are enrolled, full-time for the 2021/2022 school year in an agricultural program within the Province of Manitoba;
have achieved a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0;
have an interest in wheat (spring or winter), corn, barley, flax or sunflower crops, or agriculture in general, as demonstrated in a brief, one-page letter;
are from a farm that is a member in good-standing of MCA.

An independent selection committee was contracted to evaluate the applicants based on their connection to or interest in agriculture, explanation of why they decided to enroll in an agriculture-related post-secondary program, how they hope to benefit the agriculture industry once they have graduated and are in the workforce, and their academics and writing skills.

The selection committee included Patti Rothenburger, Director of the Agriculture Branch for Manitoba Agriculture, Scott Chalmers, Diversification Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and Stephanie Cruikshanks, Labour Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.

For more information about the MCA 2021/22 bursary program and to read biographies of the winners please visit mbcropalliance.ca.

About Manitoba Crop Alliance:
Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is a non-profit organization established August 1, 2020 representing over 9,000 farmer-members. MCA puts its farmer-members first and strives to continuously improve the competitiveness and profitability of all crops represented by the organization. We do this by investing farmer levy dollars into meaningful, independent research, valuable knowledge and targeted advocacy. Through these investments, we can ensure wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax are sustainable production choices for Manitoba farmers. For more information, visit mbcropalliance.ca.

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For more information, please contact:

Cole Christensen

Communications Manager

403-589-3529

cole@mbcropalliance.ca

Meet Manitoba Crop Alliance’s 2021-22 Bursary Recipients

mca2022dev on February 17, 2022

Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) supports students who are in post-secondary education programs, studying to support the agriculture industry. MCA has established a bursary program intended to assist with the financial needs of students who are enrolled in a post-secondary agricultural program within the Province of Manitoba.

Six students from Manitoba have been awarded with MCA 2021/22 bursaries valued at $2000 each. The MCA 2021/22 bursary recipients are George Meggison from Goodlands, Jada Ricard from Baldur, Joelle Little from McConnell, Nicole Jonk from Bruxelles, Simon Hodson from Lenore, and Taylor Mutch from Crystal City.

Bursary applicants needed to meet the following criteria:

have completed their first or second year of post-secondary education at the college or university level (Diploma or Degree) and are enrolled, full-time for the 2021/2022 school year in an agricultural program within the Province of Manitoba;
have achieved a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0;
have an interest in wheat (spring or winter), corn, barley, flax or sunflower crops, or agriculture in general, as demonstrated in a brief, one-page letter;
are from a farm that is a member in good-standing of MCA.

Congratulations to the MCA 2021/22 Bursary winners!

Meet the MCA 2021/22 bursary winners

Thank you to the selection committee for evaluating the bursary applications.

Meet the MCA 2021/22 bursary selection committee

2020-2021 New Research Commitments

mca2022dev on February 15, 2022

Manitoba Crop Alliance entered into funding agreements for a number of new research projects in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Download the file below to have a closer look at each of the new projects and the funding details.

New Research Commitments 2020-2021

The amount reflected in the “MCA Commitment’ column represents the total funding amount over the lifetime of the project. Projects vary in length, from one year to projects ending in 2026.

For more information about MCA’s research program click here.

Sean Walkowiak, Research Scientist, Canadian Grain Commission

mca2022dev on February 6, 2022

Follow @seanwalkowiak on Twitter!

Sean Walkowiak, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist at the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC), Grain Research Laboratory. The CGC is a science-based department in the Federal Government of Canada that provides support for the grain industry. Sean earned his Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa, his Bachelor of Science and his Master of Science both in biology, from Carleton University, and his Ph.D. in biology from Carleton University. Sean now lives in Winnipeg with his wife and two daughters.

Where did you work before the CGC?

I started with the CGC in 2019. Before that I worked at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) Crop Development Centre with the durum and elite wheat breeding program run by Dr. Curtis Pozniak where I was helping manage some of the research projects. Prior to the U of S, I was at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Ottawa working on wheat diseases.

What got you interested in this area of work?

Good mentors! When I was at AAFC in Ottawa I was supervised by Dr. Gopal Subramaniam. He was an excellent mentor. I guess I could say he gave me the research bug. And then I moved to Saskatoon and I worked with Dr. Pozniak, who is also a very passionate, hardworking scientist, and he kept that bug alive. Now I am running my program at the CGC, work that I find fun and impactful; I love science. When you’re developing new tests or generating new results that impact the industry, there is a clear connection and benefit to it you can see yourself. That’s partly what makes it a lot of fun.

Tell us a bit about the Generating a rapid a low-cost diagnosis of fungi on wheat project and what you’re working on at the CGC.

I am the lead researcher on the Generating a rapid and low-cost diagnosis of fungi on wheat project, part of the collaborative Research & Development Agreement between the Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA), SaskWheat and the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF). This project began in April 2021 and it builds off of the surveillance and monitoring work done by the CGC and collaborators at the University of Manitoba (UM), AAFC, U of S and University of British Columbia.

The project looks at diseases that impact wheat production with the focus on Fusarium head blight (FHB), one of the most important wheat diseases in Canada, and the different rust diseases. Every year, we run a survey for Fusarium species that cause FHB using DNA tests. There are other methods of looking at the species or different toxins they produce, such as chemical assays and inspection under a microscope, and these give researchers a better idea of what type of Fusarium is impacting producers. The differences between the species and toxins are important because they can cause different levels of disease in your fields.

This project is trying to develop new methods to be able to identify the species and other differences that might happen between the different Fusarium that cause FHB. The method is a rapid bio typing machine called MALDI-TOF, a mass spectrometry machine. This machine is mostly used in hospitals to identify different bacteria if people have infections. It is a very high throughput low-cost way of gathering important information about microbes that are potentially on the grain. Before now this machine hadn’t been applied to agriculture in a Canadian context before.

At CGC we have access to this machine and want to use it to test wheat and Fusarium, and to look at the different leaf, stripe and stem rusts as they also have different races. In order to determine the different races of rust, you usually have to do infection assays that are expensive, laborious and take a long time. If we can identify these races quickly using one of these methods, for maybe $0.30 and 10 mins of our time, and we can tell you what the race is, we’re saving weeks of time trying to identify the races using an infection assay. That is the major focus of this project.

I also collaborate on a number of projects that are led by other scientists, and supported by MCA and other producer groups within Canada. It is important to support research that benefits all crops in Canada, and at the CGC we try to provide as much support as we can.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

The CGC provides broad support to the agricultural industry through research. The research we do is collaborative in nature to support other government departments, universities, and private industry. Having the funds to do that research is important because it trickles down to all of the other organizations, and then it trickles down further to producers. A lot of the funding is important to provide the framework to enable us to collaborate with all of these other organizations so we have a unified approach to tackling the issues that are important to producers.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

The work we do is really in the name of farmers. We really appreciate the support they give and the partnership we have with them to make sure we are addressing issues that are important to them in our research, and helping them be successful on their farms. The surveillance work is important to know what races and species are in fields causing disease and yield losses, or contaminating with toxins that might cause farmers to get less money when they go to sell their grain. By observing the pathogens, we can make better mitigation strategies to be able to stay one step ahead. It informs the breeders and variety registration system ensuring producers are getting the most up-to-date information about the crops they grow. It also helps the breeders know which races and species are important to target in their programs so they can develop new cultivars that produce optimal results in the fields.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I play recreational hockey in Winnipeg and I also coach my kids’ hockey team.

What gets you excited about the work you do?

Everything. I love the students and the teaching component of it, raising the next generation of scientists. I like seeing the work we finish come with real world results that can be translated to something that is meaningful.

What inspires you?

The science inspires me. It’s always a challenge, and nothing stays the same. The challenges that producers face and scientists face are always changing, and the technologies are always changing. There are lots of ways that as researchers we can apply ourselves to come up with new and creative solutions that can help keep our agriculture sector flourishing.

Follow @seanwalkowiak on Twitter!