GIFS at USask supporting collaborations to unlock breeding acceleration

Every year, the global demand for safe, nutritious food continues to rise.

To meet this challenge, plant and livestock breeders are continuously working to develop new crop varieties and animal genetics that are more productive and resilient to environmental stresses and other pressures.

These efforts are increasingly driven by advanced technologies and data-driven strategies, including high-throughput genotyping, which allows researchers to rapidly gather detailed genetic information across large populations, and genomic selection, a method that uses this data to accurately predict the breeding potential of plants and livestock.

These approaches, combined with other breeding acceleration technologies and strategies, can be integrated to shorten breeding cycles, accelerate genetic gains, and more rapidly bring new innovations to farmers and consumers.

The expertise and infrastructure, however, required to implement these strategies are substantial. As a result, their use has been largely limited to the highest value crops and livestock, starting in the dairy sector a generation ago and then in other major commodities like corn and soybean.

Globally, genomic selection and other strategies are increasingly being applied to a wider range of commodities. These efforts are supported by technological advances and innovative partnerships that reduce costs and enable secure, large-scale data sharing.

While the Canadian dairy sector has successfully embraced many of these strategies, breeding acceleration has yet to be widely adopted across other agricultural commodities in the country. One of the barriers is the limited availability of specialized tools and the expertise required to employ them at scale.

To meet this need, the FCC Breeding Acceleration Program at GIFS is providing breeders and organizations with access to a comprehensive suite of tools designed to accelerate breeding, enhance agricultural resilience, and boost competitiveness.

“In Canada, we are trailing our competitors in Australia, the U.S., and elsewhere in our technological approaches to breeding — and we need to remain competitive,” said GIFS CEO Dr. Steven Webb.

“Breeding organizations, however, may not need the equipment and expertise outside of a few months of the year — and the opportunity that GIFS has is to be that partner.

Collaboration Makes it Happen

The FCC Breeding Acceleration Program at GIFS is all about collaboration.