|
July 24, 2003
Today
University of Saskatchewan
received an investment of more than $1.1 M from QTC Canada Inc.
(which operates the Quaker Oats business in Canada) and Cargill
Ltd. in support of its oat research and development program at
the College of Agriculture's Crop Development Centre.
Over the next five years, QTC Canada plans to contribute
$850,000 and Cargill $285,000 for oats research; leading to new
knowledge that aims to improve oat varieties for growers in
Saskatchewan and western Canada and the quality of food
ingredients for the consumer.
The investment represents a continuation of almost 30 years of
funding support for the Crop Development Centre from QTC Canada
($2.3m in total) and over 10 years ($700,000 in total) from
Cargill Ltd.
Project co-leader Brian Rossnagel says: "We are very pleased to
be associated with QTC Canada and Cargill Ltd. on this project.
Their investment will strengthen our research efforts into oat
disease, milling quality and field yield as well as mapping the
oat genome - all of which are important components of what has
been an extremely successful 30-year breeding program at the
University of Saskatchewan."
Saskatchewan is the largest oat producer in Canada with more
than 1.5 million acres annually worth $150 million each year.
Saskatchewan oat acreage and production has tripled since the
early 1990s and is now one of the largest oat producing areas in
the world.
Since 1983, the Crop Development Centre has released nine
varieties of milling oat which dominate oat acreage in
Saskatchewan and Alberta. The most recent releases called CDC
Dancer and CDC Orrin consistently produce exceptional yields. A
yet-to-be-named variety which will be released at the
end of this year represents a first for the Crop Development
Centre in that it has rust resistance for the eastern prairie
oat region. Rust, caused by a fungus which attacks the leaves,
causes widespread crop losses and lowers the quality of the oat.
Our goal is to consistently deliver high quality oats to our
consumers," says Grant Morrison, Director - Quality Assurance
Services, QTC Canada. "And, as an industry leader for more than
125 years, it is natural for Quaker Oats to continue to invest
in this premier oat research."
"We are proud to be apart of a team that remains committed to
ongoing investment, research and development into quality food
ingredients for the consumer," said Don Chute, Seed Product
Manager with Cargill Ltd. "At Cargill we are striving to provide
opportunities for western Canadian farmers to differentiate
themselves and join with us in being a global leader in
nourishing people. This investment is one of the steps towards
achieving this goal."
The Crop Development Centre is a unit of the U of S College of
Agriculture established in 1971 to increase crop diversification
opportunities for Saskatchewan farmers, to improve the
adaptation of existing Saskatchewan crops and as a centre of
excellence for crop research.
QTC Canada is an operating unit of PepsiCo Inc. company that
manufactures and markets a wide variety of grain products
including Quaker hot cereals, cold cereals, rice cakes, snack
bars and other grain-based foods.
Cargill Limited is the Canadian subsidiary of Cargill
Incorporated, an international marketer, processor and
distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial
products and services with some 82,000 employees in 59
countries. In Canada, Cargill employs more than 4,000 people in
the grain, feed, seed, farm supply, fertilizer manufacturing,
malting barley, egg processing, meat, salt, starch, malt, canola
and flax fibre processing businesses. |
