March 12, 2020 – The three Prairie, provincial canola grower organizations have reviewed and selected six new canola research projects to receive funding under the Canola Agronomic Research Program (CARP) in 2020. This includes an investment of more than $1.1 million from Alberta Canola, SaskCanola and Manitoba Canola Growers, as well as matching funds from the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), bringing the total investment to over $2.3 million.
CARP supports canola agronomic research focused on increasing yield and profitability, reducing production risk and enhancing sustainability. This is the first time that WGRF has partnered with the three provincial canola grower organizations on the program, enabling greater discovery and value creation for the canola industry.
“CARP is a great way for canola growers to have a significant influence on the future direction of research investments,” says Keith Fournier, chair of SaskCanola’s research committee. “We value the partnership with WGRF; it allows us to increase the number of initiatives that can begin in 2020.”
“WGRF is excited about this new funding partnership with CARP,” says Terry Young, WGRF board chair. “Canola is an important crop for producers and agronomic research is an important funding priority for WGRF – that’s what makes this collaboration with CARP such a good fit.”
This year’s CARP projects focus on:
- germplasm discovery for sclerotinia tolerance,
- investigation of insect pest predators,
- understanding of the clubroot infection process,
- improving insect pest monitoring,
- protein optimization, and
- high-throughput phenotyping to enable faster screening of stable, high-yielding traits.
About CARP
CARP is funded by the three provincial canola grower organizations – Alberta Canola, SaskCanola and the Manitoba Canola Growers, and is administered by the Canola Council of Canada (CCC). Proposals are reviewed by the grower association research committees, with additional agronomic insight from CCC’s crop production and innovation team.
The findings from these projects are incorporated into various tools, including canolaresearch.ca and canolaencyclopedia.ca. More information on CARP can be found at canolacouncil.org.
About WGRF
The Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) is a farmer-funded and farmer-directed non-profit organization investing in agricultural research that benefits Western Canadian farmers. WGRF is the largest producer funder of field crop research in Canada. Since 1981, WGRF has funded over $196 million of research in field crops of interest to Western Canadian farmers.
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Ward Toma
General Manager
Alberta Canola
(780) 545-0844
ward@albertacanola.com
Tracy Broughton
Public Affairs Manager
SaskCanola
(306) 975-0732
tbroughton@saskcanola.com
Leanne Campbell
Communications Manager
Manitoba Canola Growers Association
(204) 479-1115
leanne@canolagrowers.com
Mike Espeseth
Communications Manager
Western Grains Research Foundation
(306) 975-0365
MikeEspeseth@westerngrains.com
Heidi Dancho
Director, Communications
Canola Council of Canada
(204) 982-2108
danchoh@canolacouncil.org
