The Canadian Wheat Research Coalition sets a new vision for wheat and barley breeding in Western Canada

"The Western Canadian wheat and barley plant breeding system is thriving and innovation-driven, where collaboration and competition coexist to attract diverse investment and provide farmers with choice in superior, field-ready varieties that meet the needs of our end use customers."

"The optimal wheat and barley plant breeding system will deliver superior field-ready varieties and that these varieties provide choice to support the market and meet the needs of end use customers. Will be technology driven and have the capacity to integrate the most advanced breeding technologies, testing/screening methods and data science to enable efficient delivery of improved varieties."

"Will enable competition and collaboration to drive innovation and farmer choice. Will provide reliable, long-term public and private investment in plant breeding programs. Has the capacity to deliver a sustainable return on investment (ROI). Will attract investment and talent into the Canadian plant breeding system from both domestic and global sources."

Canadian wheat and barley research organizations, universities, and seed industry groups convened to develop a unified vision for plant breeding in Western Canada. The collaborative effort identified nine guiding principles for an optimal breeding system. Key priorities include delivering superior field-ready varieties with farmer choice, integrating advanced breeding technologies and data science, leveraging long-term farmer investments, enabling both competition and collaboration, securing reliable public and private funding, achieving sustainable returns on investment, and attracting domestic and global investment and talent. The stakeholders recognize that balancing innovation-driven approaches with market needs will strengthen the region's agricultural competitiveness.

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