Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC) has invested $31.5 million into wheat research over the past eight years and Alberta Barley has invested $3.7 million into barley research over the past nine years. These huge investments in research ($35 million combined) are the largest financial commitments that AWC and Alberta Barley make. As such, we want to ensure that the research we fund now, and in the future, is aligned with farmer needs.
In February 2022, AWC and Alberta Barley asked for input from directors, regional representatives and delegates (who are all farmer members) on our research priorities to help direct the investment of producer dollars.
To make the most efficient use of our investments, it is important to avoid duplication and increase collaboration and leveraging of research funding. To meet these objectives, AWC’s core research themes were aligned with the International Wheat Initiative while Alberta Barley’s core research themes were aligned with the Canadian Barley Research Coalition’s National Barley Research Strategy.
Increasing yield was a top priority for both commissions. Since the contribution to yield is considered to be 50% genetic and 50% agronomic, both are important research categories to invest in. Producers indicated a desire to increase investments in agronomy above historic levels. However, the limited research capacity in this area, especially in applied soil fertility research, will make this challenging. Addressing the agronomy research capacity issues and adding expertise in this area, is going to be important in achieving these research priorities.
Source : albertawheatbarley