Wheat
The funding is geared toward a range of issues affecting Manitoba's agriculture industry.
 
ROSSER, MANITOBA, CANADA —The governments of Canada and Manitoba have invested more than C$365,000 in five new research projects in Manitoba. The research projects are funded through the Growing Innovation - Agri-Food Research and Development Initiative (ARDI), and focus on a range of issues affecting Manitoba’s agriculture industry.

"The Government of Canada’s support for innovative research projects like these ones helps reduce the risk of harm to our crops and livestock,” said Terry Duguid, member of Parliament on behalf of Lawrence MacAulay, minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.  “When we invest in research, we’re helping our farmers grow their businesses, while driving our economy and helping to feed a growing world population."

Funded projects include:
  • C$180,000 to XiteBio Technologies Inc. to determine whether bacteria living near the roots of wheat and barley may be used to help control the damage caused by fusarium head blight, a serious fungal disease that affects crop yield and quality;
  • C$50,000 to CanaMaize Seed to develop and perform yield trials on a non-genetically modified soybean that is high-yielding and suitable for Manitoba’s shorter growing season;
  • ·nearly C$27,000 to Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers to conduct the fifth general weed survey in Manitoba since the 1970s and the third herbicide-resistant weed survey since the 1990s, as the results will help measure changes in the number and type of weed populations and assess weed management strategies. more than C$47,000 to the University of Manitoba to evaluate prairie cordgrass as a potential source of biomass energy as compared to other perennial grasses, with the goal of developing a breeding program in Manitoba; and
  • more than C$61,000 to Dairy Farmers of Manitoba (DFM) to identify more effective prevention and control programs for mastitis, a costly disease affecting dairy cattle;

"An investment in research is an investment in the future of Manitoba’s agriculture industry,” said Ralph Eichler, minister of Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. “It’s exciting because these research projects are led by farmers and the broader agricultural industry, the people who are best positioned to identify the problems that need solutions and the opportunities we should pursue."

In total, industry partners have contributed another C$374,000 to the five projects.

ARDI funds industry-led research and development focused on crops, livestock, environment and food.

The federal and provincial governments are investing C$176 million in Manitoba under Growing Forward 2, a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial policy framework to advance the agriculture industry, helping producers and processors become more innovative and competitive in world markets.