FCC Accelerated Breeding Program will benefit prairie producers

Farm Credit Canada announced a $5 million investment into the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS).

FCC President and Chief Executive Officer Justine Henricks announced the funding yesterday during Canada's Farm Show.

She says the partnership is about collaboration and investing in impactful innovation.

"It's an opportunity to leverage our industry's knowledge and new technology  to address the challenges producers face. The Accelerated Breeding Program brings together cutting edge science and practical agricultural knowledge. It will bring new crop variety and livestock genetics to producers and other stakeholders much faster, which will stimulate rural economic growth and increased revenue."

GIFS Executive Director Steven Webb says the funding into the FCC Accelerated Breeding Program at GIFS is an investment in Canadian Agriculture.

"The FCC Accelerated Breeding Program at GIFS will support diverse partnerships with plant and livestock breeders across the country to deliver innovative products faster with better yields, better disease resistance, and better quality traits to our entire value chain, as well as consumers and customers around the world."

He says the great work the Canadian plant and livestock breeders are already doing adding the GIFS program will not be replacing the work that they do but supporting it by giving them more information sooner so that they can accelerate their programs.

"Accelerated breeding technologies and strategies increase the rate of genetic gain, which means the potential to produce for crops and livestock throughout the application of several technologies, genomic selection, bioinformatics, speed breeding and computational simulations."

That work will help to deliver new products into the hands of producers two to three years faster while improving agronomics, quality and disease resistant traits.

Webb notes these accelerated breeding strategies have been proven over the last 20 years in animal breeding and large crops like corn and soybean.

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay says investing in the development of more resilient crop and livestock varieties will help us meet the growing demand for food around the world.

"With the support of Farm Credit Canada, the Accelerated Breeding Program at the Global Institute for Food Security will strengthen Canada’s position as a reliable and sustainable global food producer and supplier."