The Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (Sask Wheat) has committed over $467,000 to four research projects funded through the Alberta Agriculture Funding Consortium (AFC) in the 2022-2023 crop year.

“The projects Sask Wheat funded through the AFC program address key issues that are important to Saskatchewan wheat producers such as efficient fertilizer application and studying herbicide resistance,” says Sask Wheat Chair Brett Halstead. “This is a multi-province, collaborative funding effort that will develop tools producers can use to assist in the sustainability and profitability of their farms.”

The projects funded are:

• Prairie Crop Disease Monitoring Network – Fostering further network development (Dr. Kelly Turkington, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) – Lacombe)
• Dissecting herbicide resistance in wild oat to design novel efficient molecular diagnostic tools (Dr. Leonardo Galindo-González, Canadian Food Inspection Agency – Ottawa)
• Understanding the interactions of N fertilizer technologies, fungicides, and the soil microbiome to optimize sustainable agriculture (Dr. Monika Gorzelak, AAFC – Lethbridge)
• Field sensing phenocart data management and image analysis pipeline development to improve cereal crop characteristics (Dr. Keshav Singh, AAFC – Lethbridge)

Sask Wheat has committed over $6.6 million to 56 projects through the AFC since 2016. The AFC consists of 18 agricultural organizations that leverage and coordinate funding to support sustainability, diversification, and long-term growth for agriculture and the food industry in Western Canada.

For more information on Sask Wheat’s funded research, visit saskwheat.ca.

(SaskWheat News Release)