NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Canada's Saskatchewan province has invested C$5.6 million ($5.9 million) to fund genome sequencing efforts to support the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, which seeks to use genomics to develop new wheat varieties.
The new funding is part of the C$8.5 million Canadian Triticum Advancement through Genomics (CTAG) project, which is supported by Genome Canada, and it includes C$1.5 million from the government of Saskatchewan's Agriculture Development Fund.
Other funders supporting the international wheat research project include the Western Grains Research Foundation, Viterra, Genome Alberta, the Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund, France's National Agricultural Research, and India's National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute.
"These investments will help farmers and others in the agricultural industry by increasing the diversity of high-quality wheat produced in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner," Saskatoon-Humboldt's MP Brad Trost said in a statement.
"This research is timely and necessary, and supports other international efforts in providing Canadian wheat breeders with tools and resources to accelerate wheat improvement to meet the global challenge of increased food production," added Genome Prairie President and CEO Wilf Keller.
The research in Saskatchewan will be conducted at the University of Saskatchewan's Crop Development Centre.