Planted Firmly in Ontario’s Economy

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits from germplasm development at the University of Guelph is the most difficult to measure—the security of knowing that Ontario has a bountiful supply of home-grown field crops, fruit and vegetables that it can share with the world.

Germplasm development also contributes to our lives in ways we don’t see. Crops like corn and soybeans are bred for an increasingly wide range of industrial products, from fuels (biodiesel and ethanol), automotive parts, packaging and consumer products, to industrial chemicals, paints, lubricants, fibres and even pharmaceuticals. These “green” components help reduce the petrochemical content of industrial and consumer products and increase recycling and composting options.

The University of Guelph has the most prolific germplasm development programs in the country, with the widest range of crops under development for food, feed and industrial purposes. More than 500 plant varieties have been developed since the late 1800s, with breeders carefully selecting and crossing generations of crops to make them hardier, healthier and higher-yielding.

Yearly, the University’s plant breeders develop, test and release new field crop, fruit and vegetable varieties. These are grown by thousands of producers in Ontario and throughout North America.

U of G breeders work closely with industry and government to learn exactly what improvements are needed in the field, factory or supermarket. Financial contributions from producer and grower organizations, and their collaboration in testing new lines, help ensure the new varieties are adopted quickly, returning the financial investment sooner.

Those breeders also work closely with the University’s key provincial partner, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). Over many decades, they have addressed emerging issues and opportunities, from management strategies for droughts or pesticide resistance, to creating soybean and wheat varieties tailored to export markets in Europe and Japan.

“The Ontario Tender Fruit Growers have been working in partnership with the University of Guelph for many years to bring new tender fruit varieties to the marketplace. Local breeding programs are an essential long-term commitment and process to ensure only the best selections, from an economic and consumer demand perspective, are released.”  —Sarah Marshall, manager, Ontario Tender Fruit Growers

Vegetables

More than 150 new varieties of fruits and vegetables have been developed by University of Guelph breeders. One of many outstanding successes is Guelph Millennium asparagus developed by Prof. Dave Wolyn, which increased yields by 40 per cent compared to existing varieties. It now comprises more than three-quarters of the Ontario crop, and is popular as far away as Michigan, Washington State and the U.K. And Guelph’s Yukon Gold potatoes? Their popularity persists decades after they were developed.

Annual value of Ontario crop: $1.9 billion

Fruits

Although the harvested area of fruit crops has declined, the total farm value of Ontario fruit crops rose by 124 per cent between 1985 and 2017. Guelph breeders have contributed to this success by developing improved varieties of cherries, plums, strawberries, raspberries, nectarines, peaches, pears and plums. Prof. Jay Subramanian has recently completed studies of two new early season peach varieties—20+ years in the making—that will help Ontario growers get a jump on imports and avoid weather risks later in the season. He’s also developed two new yellow plum varieties that will stretch the season by maturing both earlier and later than existing varieties. The plums are larger, with better shelf life and superior resistance to black knot, a common disease.

Annual value of Ontario crop: $280 million

Food- and feed-grade soybeans

More than three million acres of soybeans are grown annually in Ontario for food, feed and industrial uses. That makes it the largest acreage field crop in the province. About 60 per cent of the harvest is exported, much of it to southeast Asia

Amazingly, soybeans didn’t exist in Ontario as a crop until the 1920s, when U of G breeders developed varieties suitable for provincial growing conditions. In the last three decades, more than 60 new varieties have been released. OAC Kent has been one of the most popular, highest-yielding, non-genetically modified varieties in Ontario. It’s also created an estimated $2-billion market for growers.

Prof. Milad Eskandari of the University’s Ridgetown Campus is developing foodgrade soybean cultivars resistant to soybean cyst nematodes (SCN) that yield well in soybean-growing areas of the province. He estimates that SCN damage costs Ontario soybean growers more than $30 million each year. And it’s not just a pest of soybeans: SCN can infect fields of dry beans as well.

Annual value of Ontario crop: $1.7 billion

Wheat

Winter wheat is Ontario’s third largest crop, after soybeans and corn. Fusarium head blight (FHB) is considered the biggest problem facing wheat producers across Canada. The fungus produces a toxin that can be fatal to livestock, and too much in a crop can render it worthless. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada estimates fusarium has cost Canadian producers $1.5 billion in lost income since the mid-1990s.

Researchers in the University’s wheat breeding program, previously led by the late Prof. Ali Navabi, aim to understand the genetic basis of wheat resistance to FHB, and to incorporate resistant lines in the breeding pipeline. The University will soon release a new line with improved yields and resistance to stripe rust, a fungal parasite and another disease of economic significance to Ontario wheat. Winter wheat varieties grown in Ontario currently have wide variation in their susceptibility to stripe rust.

Annual value of Ontario crop: $477 million

Dry beans

The common dry bean is a staple food for more than 300 million people worldwide. Beans are beneficial for human health and the environment and are particularly important for healthy soils. Because they can fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, they reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer needed by other crops planted later.

The University’s bean breeding program focuses on developing high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties for Ontario growers. It’s led by Prof. Peter Pauls, who in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has developed common bacterial blight-resistant lines (OAC Rex, Rexeter, Mist, Lighthouse, Shock) as well as varieties like Bolt that resist currently prevalent forms of fungal anthracnose. Most recently developed varieties Fathom, Apex and Argosy combine resistance to both diseases.

U of G varieties in other market classes, such as the dark red kidney bean Dynasty, light red kidney bean Inferno and white kidney bean Yeti, have shown excellent yields in trials in Ontario, Michigan, North Dakota and Minnesota. The yield increase of these three varieties alone was calculated to provide an additional $143 per acre to growers..

Overall, Ontario dry bean yields have nearly doubled between 1985 and 2014, thanks to the work of agronomists and public and private bean breeders.

Annual value of Ontario crop: $115 million

“Grain Farmers of Ontario strongly values the University of Guelph public breeding programs that develop new varieties of crops like food-grade soybean and wheat. Their focus on adaptation to the Ontario environment and their flexibility to breed for smaller, high-value export markets like foodgrade soybean help improve Ontario grain farmers’ competitiveness in the global marketplace.” —Josh Cowan, manager of research and innovation, Grain Farmers of Ontario

This article originally appeared in the 2019 Agri-Food Yearbook edition of Research magazine.

Story: Robyn Meerveld

Photo: Grain Farmers of Ontario