The check-off investment of western Canadian farmers has helped strengthen Canada's portfolio of wheat and barley varieties to compete with the U.S., Australia and other key competitors.

"Because developing a new cereal variety is typically an eight to 12 year process, it's only recently that farmers are beginning to see the results of their long-term investment in the Wheat and Barley Check-off Fund," says Dr. Keith Degenhardt, a Hughenden, Alta., producer and Chair of Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF).

It was the 1993/94 crop year when farmers began supporting wheat and barley breeding research through the Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds, administered by WGRF. Ten years later, the first new varieties produced with that support are in the field and bringing a range of benefits for the field and for world markets.

"When you look at these varieties, you see many significant improvements in yield, quality, agronomic characteristics and other traits that are very important to producers," says Degenhardt.

Among the latest examples of WGRF-backed wheat varieties are hard red spring varieties Superb and CDC Go, the hard white spring variety Snowbird, durum varieties AC Avonlea and Strongfield and winter wheats CDC Falcon and AC Bellatrix. Recent examples of WGRF-backed barley varieties include malting varieties CDC Copeland, CDC Select, Newdale and Calder, and feed varieties Rivers and CDC Trey.

"A few of these varieties are already becoming rapidly adopted by farmers, while others will need another year or two of seed increase before they are widely available," says Degenhardt.

The Wheat and Barley Check-off Funds have now delivered a consistent investment into wheat and barley breeding programs for the full 10-year period governed by WGRF's initial funding agreements with research institutions. "As farmers, we've reached the first harvest stages of our initial long-term research investment," says Degenhardt.

At the same time, WGRF is at an important stage of directing its funding for continued progress in the future, he says. "We're working with research institutions to develop new long-term Check-off funding agreements to come into effect during 2005."

Including advanced material in the research pipeline, highlights of wheat breeding progress include five to 10 percent yield increases compared to varieties of a decade ago, higher stem solidness to provide sawfly resistance, earlier maturity, improved resistance to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), resistance to sprouting and lodging and resistance to wheat midge, stem rust, leaf rust and bunt.

Barley breeding highlights include over 20 percent yield increases compared to Harrington, 50 percent reduced susceptibility to the FHB-related DON mycotoxin, "slow DMD" (dry matter disappearance) to reduce acidosis and bloat, new sources of resistance to scald, net blotch, spot blotch and septoria, and "low phytate" to reduce phosphorous pollution potential for hogs.

For both grains, breeding advances have helped expand Canada's portfolio of different grain types. Two prominent examples are the new Canada Western Hard White (CWHW) class, and hulless barley tailored for various feed and food uses.

Detailed information on wheat and barley programs funded by the Check-off Funds is available on the WGRF Web site, www.westerngrains.com. More information on the lineup of key varieties produced under the first WGRF 10-year funding agreements in available in the February edition of WGRF's Industry Report newsletter, also available on the Web site.

The producer-funded Wheat and Barley Check-off Fund, administered by WGRF, allocates more than $4 million annually to breeding programs in Western Canada.