Last month, Canada hosted researchers, industry stakeholders and commodity organizations from across the world for the sixth International Symposium on Fusarium Head Blight (FHB). This conference showcased the latest research from around the world, illustrated the progress made over the last decade in understanding and combating FHB, and highlighted the challenges we still face.

There were four main takeaways from the conference:

1. Breeding works
2. Researchers have come a long way in understanding the disease
3. Canada is a leader in FHB research and training the next generation of FHB scientists
4. MCA-funded research has a direct impact on combating FHB

Understanding the disease

Fusarium is a complex fungus that can survive on multiple plant species and plant parts. Understanding the species population, mechanism of plant infection, disease spread and plant response is crucial to combating FHB. Conference presentations and posters provided new insights, such as the role of mycotoxin (e.g., deoxynivalenol) in the Fusarium head blight infection, understanding the effectors critical for FHB infection and unraveling plant-microbe interactions. MCA-funded researcher Matthew Bakker was one of the researchers that presented his work in this space.

Matthew Bakker presenting his research at the sixth International Symposium on Fusarium Head Blight.

Breeding and food safety

Canada has an impressive and long-standing expertise in cereal breeding and food safety. This was on full display at the conference, with presentations from breeders, including Curtis Pozniak from the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) and Richard Cuthbert from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). The moral of the story is that breeding works. Newly released spring wheat and durum varieties have improved FHB resistance ratings, which is important for an integrated disease management plan. MCA is a core-breeding funder and provides resources for this important work to get elite wheat (e.g., AAC Brandon) and barley varieties that carry great agronomic traits along with strong disease-resistance packages into farmers’ hands.

A presentation by Sean Walkowiak also demonstrated the robustness of Canada’s grain handling and monitoring system. Walkowiak presented on the Canadian Grain Commission’s Harvest Sample Program results from past years, showing the extent of FHB impact across the Canadian Prairies, but also highlighted the effectiveness of the safety system in Canada, where everyone works together to deliver safe, healthy cereal ingredients to consumers.  Canadian grain safety programs achieved technical equivalence against the Global Food Safety Initiative benchmarking requirements in September 2022.

Training the next generation

The skill among the next generation of FHB researchers in Canada was on display at the conference, with many posters and talks presented by graduate students and early career researchers. Specifically, many of these researchers and students are from Western Canada, which puts Canada in a great position to continue to be a global leader in FHB research. MCA is a key part of ensuring that strong and impactful FHB research continues in Canada by providing funding to important projects and sponsoring the student awards at this conference. MCA specifically chose this sponsorship, as we believe in training and investing in the next generation of leaders in the agriculture industry.

Examples of project posters that have received MCA funding.

Final thoughts

FHB is one of the most devastating cereal diseases in the world. Financial losses to farmers in epidemic years can be extensive in Western Canada through yield loss and quality downgrading. In the last epidemic year (2016), there was an estimated $1 billion lost because of FHB infections. We have come a long way with stronger resistance built into available varieties, fungicides that can suppress the disease and a better understanding of agronomic approaches for the integration of these tools. However, we continue to experience challenges, including increased incidence during the 2024 growing season. Continued investment in FHB research is paramount to understand the disease and find innovative breeding and management solutions to reduce its impact on farmers.