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By Alice McFarlane

USask Crop Research Chair

Sask Wheat to support new USask crop research chair

Feb 7, 2025 | 10:33 AM

Sask Wheat has committed $6.5 million to support the establishment of the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission Applied Genomics and Pre-breeding Chair at the University of Saskatchewan (USask).

The new research chair will be responsible for technologies and strategies to assess genetic diversity for delivery into new crop varieties with a primary focus on wheat.

College of Agriculture and Bioresources Dean Dr. Angela Bedard-Haughn said the support will advance crop research.

“This new chair will bolster USask’s leadership in the development of productive, climate-smart varieties that support a sustainable food production system,” Bedard-Haughn said.

The chair will focus on applying genomics to pre-breeding activities and bridge the gap between discovery research, exploration of gene banks, genomics and breeding.

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The research is necessary to connect crop wild relatives and commercial varieties with a goal to translate gene discovery into better adapted varieties for Saskatchewan climates and agronomic pressures. This would give producers more rotational options.

The USask Crop Development Centre (CDC) is home to some of the best researchers and breeders in the world, according to Sask Wheat board chair Jake Leguee.

“This directed funding for a chair position is an investment by wheat growers into our future to develop improved wheat varieties for Saskatchewan,” Leguee said.

Applying a combination of genomics techniques and data science methods to large collections of available germplasm—the genetic material of a plant—the chair will provide expertise to support the selection of traits valuable in resistance to diseases, pests, heat stress, and drought tolerance to support climate resiliency and increasing pre-breeding pathology support at the CDC.

Expected to be appointed later this year, the chair will hold a faculty position in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at USask within the CDC and Department of Plant Sciences, providing mentorship and supervision of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in their research and studies.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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