Wheat sector report outlines best use of research to boost competitiveness, profitability

Stakeholders in the wheat sector have collaborated on what they say is the first national research priorities report, establishing clearly set goals and metrics to guide funders and researchers on how to focus R&D efforts to boost their impact on the market.

The 2017 Canadian Wheat Research Priorities report identifies five themes: improving wheat yield, improving wheat yield reliability, enhancing cropping system sustainability, continuous improvement in food safety, and consistently delivering on customers’ quality needs. The themes were refined for the report from an earlier industry workshop. For each theme, there are set goals and measurable outcomes which are intended to be achieved over a five-year period. The overall objective of these research areas is to increase the profitability of farm output.

The report, which covers up to 2022, was launched in Saskatoon, SK last month by the Grains Round Table, co-chaired by Cereals Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

The report arrives at a time of increasing challenges for the wheat industry as it seeks to strengthen and expand global markets.

“Wheat acreage in Canada has declined by about 15% over the last 20 years due largely to global surpluses of wheat, reduced world prices for high quality wheat and declining farm profitability for wheat in comparison with other crop options,” states the report.  “Wheat is an important crop for Canadian farmers, but needs continued investments in research to increase farm gate profitability and to keep pace with advancements being made in other crops.”

Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, says it is the first time that the entire value chain in the wheat sector is involved in a national report. The report was compiled with the help of a task force and working groups whose members represent the entire value chain – from public and private funders and researchers to producers, processors and exporters.

Dahl says there’s a “broad acceptance” among the wheat value chain on the goals and objectives in the report. He adds that it’s important that the processors and exporters are engaged, to provide a link back from research projects to the marketplace.

“The goal is to have funders focus their funding efforts on specific research priorities. It’s to ensure that individual research organizations know what the value chain has as its research focus, so it helps them focus their research efforts … Funders and researchers have an understanding of what that market demand is going forward,” says Dahl, adding that the report was not meant to indicate how much in research funding is needed to work the priorities and goals identified in the report.

“The purpose was not to talk about dollars and investments; that wasn’t the purpose of this report at all,” says Dahl. “The purpose was to define a strong set of national objectives defined by the Canadian value chain that relate to our market demand.”

The report notes that investment in wheat research has increased yield due to improvements in new wheat cultivars and effective crop management practices. Wheat production in Canada is estimated to be at $7 billion annually. Wheat is grown in up to 24 million acres of land, making it the largest field crop in Canada. The country exports from 20 to 24 million tons of wheat to more than 60 countries annually while an additional 8 to 10 million tons are distributed domestically.

Kevin Auch, chair of the Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC), says the report will help the commission look at possible gaps in their research priorities and compare these to what’s in the report. It will also help the commission in looking for partners to work on those research areas, and hopefully fill in the gaps.

Annually, the AWC invests in up to $1.7 million in research to help the province’s farmers remain competitive and profitable. Auch says he expects this investment to increase in the next few years as the wheat commissions in the prairie provinces also assume the Western Canadian Deduction, one of the mechanisms for funding wheat research. But the AWC is also counting on government to help fund the research priorities set in the report.

“We’re glad that AAFC was involved (in the report) … they can now have a framework to hang their money on as well so they know where to invest their funds,” says Auch.

The AAFC, however, could not say exactly how much they would allot to fund the research priorities in the report.

Dr Liz Foster, DG of the AAFC’s Prairie region S&T branch, says AAFC is already a significant player in wheat research in Canada in collaboration and partnership with other government departments, academia and industry.

“We will continue to use documents, like the (Canadian Wheat) Priorities report, to guide where we invest our funding so we are getting the maximum benefit for it,” Foster says. “We will continue to be a big player in the wheat research community.

She says that aside from AAFC internal funding, there are various mechanisms to fund wheat research, including through academia and producer groups. These are aside from the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a $3-billion multi-level government policy framework that includes a research component. The Partnership is the successor to the Growing Forward 2 framework, which runs from 2013 to 2018.

“Given the complexity of the different funding mechanisms, as well as how we ourselves do the research – 15 of our 20 research and development centres play some role in wheat research, and our research is often multi-disciplinary and multi-crop – to put our finger on a complete and discreet wheat (research investment) figure is complex,” Foster explains.

To help stakeholders workng in the research priority areas, Cereals Canada has been tasked to create a research inventory and evaluation tool for all wheat research in the country. Dahl says they hope to have this in place within the year.

Dahl adds that the report is an ongoing project that will be reviewed annually.

“This is an ongoing process; we’re gong to be continually measuring (and) refin(ing) the focus of our research goals and have that ongoing link back to market demand,” Dahl says.

R$