2017-18 Alberta Canola Research Numbers
Over the past decades, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the largest government funder of crop research, has provided funding in five-year blocks. This has driven much of the research funding in canola to revolve around this timeframe and it was one of the main reasons the research allocation made by Alberta Canola was larger this year than in the past.
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With the previous AAFC five-year agreement to end in 2017, the canola industry in Canada began planning the next program in 2016. This effort, coordinated by the Canola Council of Canada, brought the canola growers groups, researchers and industry together to identify those research goals that when achieved would have the greatest ability to help canola growers succeed. This effort culminated in the September 2018 announcement by Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Honourable Lawrence McAuley, of the Canola AgriScience Cluster. With this announcement, 25 research projects worth $20.1 million will be done over the next five years.
As large an endeavour that the Canola AgriScience Cluster is, not all the research areas identified were included. As they have done in past years, SaskCanola has made application for increased disease research, mainly around blackleg management, and Alberta Canola has committed $500,000 over five years toward this effort in mitigating this serious disease.
Since the untimely passing of Lloyd Dosdall, the Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Alberta has not had an entomologist on staff for research and, more importantly, for teaching. Alberta Canola, together with Alberta Wheat and Barley and Alberta Pulse Growers, has made a five-year commitment towards funding a NSERC Chair in Agri-Entomology. This commitment will allow the university to attract a leading researcher and teacher.
Along with crop production related research, Alberta Canola also made funding commitments in the area of improving the marketability of canola meal in the dairy and swine feeding areas. Three projects that did not receive funding in the Canola AgriScience Cluster were approved for partial funding in collaboration with SaskCanola.
2018 Alberta Canola Research Funding
| Alberta Canola | Total Project | Leverage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agronomy | $429,570 | $874,045 | 2.03 |
| Disease | $578,843 | $2,128,938 | 3.68 |
| Insects | $329,722 | $758,000 | 2.30 |
| Multi-project Programming | $1,850,140 | $27,600,000 | 14.92 |
| Product Improvement | $647,832 | $1,300,749 | 2.01 |
| Total | $3,836,107 | $32,661,732 | 8.51 |
FarmSustainability.com – an online tool to advance farm sustainability
In April 2018, Team Alberta* launched farmsustainability.com, a web-based farm sustainability readiness tool. The tool is a voluntary self-assessment and action-planning resource that aims to advance on-farm sustainability in Canada.
*Team Alberta is made up of Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola, Alberta Pulse Growers and Alberta Wheat Commission. Together the organizations represent over 20,000 farms across Alberta.
The readiness tool removes the guesswork by asking questions compiled from three of the most comprehensive, internationally-recognized, sustainability certification programs in a user-friendly format.
The tool addresses the drivers behind sustainable sourcing and certification and will increase producers’ understanding of sustainability in Canada. Farmers can complete an assessment of their farm when they visit farmsustainability.com, which will generate an action plan tailored to their operation.
“The tool gives me the first indication of how my farm is matching up with some of those standards and protocols that companies may be looking for in the future,” says D’Arcy Hilgartner, current chair of the Alberta Pulse Growers.
Aggregated data gleaned from this tool will give the four Alberta producer commissions insight for directing future resources for research and extension of beneficial management practices.
“I’ve implemented some of the things that have come up in the sustainability platform that would help my sustainability index,” says John Guelly, Alberta Canola director and farmer from Westlock. “Some things are really easy to change and improve your index, and other things take a bit more work, but it certainly gives an idea of what to plan for over the next few years. And when you are doing changes on your farm, you can make sure you do them in a way that matches the sustainability platform.”
As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, traditional waste disposal methods are being replaced with better techniques that do not pollute the soil, water, and air. “The readiness tool will help tell our industry’s sustainability story which is important for earning public trust,” says Kevin Bender, chair of Alberta Wheat Commission.
