All Things Considered: Nov 2010
Dr. Ron DePauw, an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) plant breeder
at Swift Current, Sask., has generated a lot of press lately as
Canada’s billion-dollar man.
Dr. Ron DePauw, an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) plant breeder at Swift Current, Sask., has generated a lot of press lately as Canada’s billion-dollar man.
It’s not that he is a billionaire, but that figure is the estimated added value of the new and better wheat varieties he has developed for western grain producers.
While the billion-dollar figure is impressive, I think it is an underestimation of the added value of his research.
At the top of DePauw’s list of breeding accomplishments is AC Barrie, a wheat variety that broke the box and changed wheat growing in Canada.
“AC Barrie really put a lot of incremental dollars in the pockets of Canadian farmers,” DePauw said. “It had higher grain yield than the check variety at the time of its registration. Plus, incredibly, it had more protein content.”
This was a breakthrough because wheat breeders had been boxed by wheat’s tremendously complicated genetics. Every time they went for more yield, the protein content dropped or the time to maturity got longer or it became more susceptible to disease. If they got more protein, the yield dropped or the time to harvest got longer.
On the Canadian prairies, having wheat that matured before killing fall frosts was essential. High protein and consistent quality was also essential if Canada was to retain world markets for high-quality wheat. Higher yields could not come at the expense of these other attributes.
It was a long slog to find the combination that would work. Almost 30 years ago, DePauw said in an interview that by building on the work of researchers that preceded him, he believed it could be done.
Years later, it was done and AC Barrie hit the fields.
“What we did with AC Barrie was make a better plant – a more efficient factory – one that could extract nutrients and water from the soil more efficiently,” said DePauw. It is estimated that AC Barrie raised farmers’ net returns by almost $550 million.
“It represented a paradigm shift in the cultivars we had. And other ones that have come along since have followed in that type,” he said.
DePauw and Dr. Fred Townley-Smith developed Kyle Durum, which brought higher yields and grades to the pasta-making wheat class. This added about $300 million in additional farm income.
DePauw was also essential to the development of Canadian Prairie Spring class of wheats and that is the reason I believe his contribution is more than $1 billion.
These wheats are high yielding (making them suited to prairie ethanol production), opened up Asian markets, which were looking for wheat suited to noodles and flat breads, and (in a pinch) the so-called 3M wheats are a good feed wheat.
It is forgotten in the mists of time, but 30 years ago these medium quality wheats were at a crossroads. The earliest varieties weren’t all that good. Then DePauw came up with HY320. It had its weaknesses, but it was something to build on. But if that building was to continue, it had to be registered.
Thirty years ago that was far from a sure thing and DePauw started a one-man campaign. Farmers who lived in areas where top-graded spring wheat production was often impossible because of weather, and who were looking for a higher yielding alternative, heard of the new wheat and pushed for it.
The result was the registration of HY320 in 1985 and the development of the new wheat class that accounts for 12 to 15 per cent of Saskatchewan’s wheat acres.
In my view, and I interviewed him 30 years ago when HY320 was on the brink, DePauw made the medium wheat class happen. He not only built on the work of others to develop it, he made farmers and the public aware of it and they got it registered.
On the prairies, they sometimes say wheat is 13 per cent protein and 87 per cent politics. DePauw is obviously a master of the 13 per cent and the creation of the CPS class showed he wasn’t bad at the politics side.
The lesson for farmers in all of this is that research pays. The comparatively few public dollars invested in AAFC’s Swift Current facilities where DePauw and others work have paid off big time. The same can be said of other AAFC research stations and provincial and university research centres. And this doesn’t just apply to grain, it applies to horticulture, cattle, hogs and poultry.
The lesson for researchers is that they must communicate – especially with farmers. Farmers bought into DePauw’s message on HY320 and pushed for its registration. They knew that research is always risky, but they also saw the potential. Without farmers’ belief in that potential and the pressure they applied, a new class of wheat may have been left to wither.
A long time ago, a particularly disgruntled scientist – not DePauw – said upon hearing of the latest round of federal research cuts: “They love to talk about the future. Without research, there is no future.”
It’s not that he is a billionaire, but that figure is the estimated added value of the new and better wheat varieties he has developed for western grain producers.
While the billion-dollar figure is impressive, I think it is an underestimation of the added value of his research.
At the top of DePauw’s list of breeding accomplishments is AC Barrie, a wheat variety that broke the box and changed wheat growing in Canada.
“AC Barrie really put a lot of incremental dollars in the pockets of Canadian farmers,” DePauw said. “It had higher grain yield than the check variety at the time of its registration. Plus, incredibly, it had more protein content.”
This was a breakthrough because wheat breeders had been boxed by wheat’s tremendously complicated genetics. Every time they went for more yield, the protein content dropped or the time to maturity got longer or it became more susceptible to disease. If they got more protein, the yield dropped or the time to harvest got longer.
On the Canadian prairies, having wheat that matured before killing fall frosts was essential. High protein and consistent quality was also essential if Canada was to retain world markets for high-quality wheat. Higher yields could not come at the expense of these other attributes.
It was a long slog to find the combination that would work. Almost 30 years ago, DePauw said in an interview that by building on the work of researchers that preceded him, he believed it could be done.
Years later, it was done and AC Barrie hit the fields.
“What we did with AC Barrie was make a better plant – a more efficient factory – one that could extract nutrients and water from the soil more efficiently,” said DePauw. It is estimated that AC Barrie raised farmers’ net returns by almost $550 million.
“It represented a paradigm shift in the cultivars we had. And other ones that have come along since have followed in that type,” he said.
DePauw and Dr. Fred Townley-Smith developed Kyle Durum, which brought higher yields and grades to the pasta-making wheat class. This added about $300 million in additional farm income.
DePauw was also essential to the development of Canadian Prairie Spring class of wheats and that is the reason I believe his contribution is more than $1 billion.
These wheats are high yielding (making them suited to prairie ethanol production), opened up Asian markets, which were looking for wheat suited to noodles and flat breads, and (in a pinch) the so-called 3M wheats are a good feed wheat.
It is forgotten in the mists of time, but 30 years ago these medium quality wheats were at a crossroads. The earliest varieties weren’t all that good. Then DePauw came up with HY320. It had its weaknesses, but it was something to build on. But if that building was to continue, it had to be registered.
Thirty years ago that was far from a sure thing and DePauw started a one-man campaign. Farmers who lived in areas where top-graded spring wheat production was often impossible because of weather, and who were looking for a higher yielding alternative, heard of the new wheat and pushed for it.
The result was the registration of HY320 in 1985 and the development of the new wheat class that accounts for 12 to 15 per cent of Saskatchewan’s wheat acres.
In my view, and I interviewed him 30 years ago when HY320 was on the brink, DePauw made the medium wheat class happen. He not only built on the work of others to develop it, he made farmers and the public aware of it and they got it registered.
On the prairies, they sometimes say wheat is 13 per cent protein and 87 per cent politics. DePauw is obviously a master of the 13 per cent and the creation of the CPS class showed he wasn’t bad at the politics side.
The lesson for farmers in all of this is that research pays. The comparatively few public dollars invested in AAFC’s Swift Current facilities where DePauw and others work have paid off big time. The same can be said of other AAFC research stations and provincial and university research centres. And this doesn’t just apply to grain, it applies to horticulture, cattle, hogs and poultry.
The lesson for researchers is that they must communicate – especially with farmers. Farmers bought into DePauw’s message on HY320 and pushed for its registration. They knew that research is always risky, but they also saw the potential. Without farmers’ belief in that potential and the pressure they applied, a new class of wheat may have been left to wither.
A long time ago, a particularly disgruntled scientist – not DePauw – said upon hearing of the latest round of federal research cuts: “They love to talk about the future. Without research, there is no future.”