Winnipeg-based Canterra Seeds has announced a major increase in its internal research and product development (R&PD) program.
“We are set for some dramatic changes in our research program, in both scope and depth. In 2014, we will be testing five times as many potential varieties as in 2013, including a significant amount of material from the very early stages of variety development,” says Canterra Seeds director of research and product development, Dr. Erin Armstrong, in a company press release.
The company will run its own variety registration trials for the first time this year, in addition to entering lines into the publicly coordinated trials. Armstrong noted that cereals continue to make up the majority of the varieties evaluated, especially spring and winter wheat.
Armstrong also paid tribute to the company’s ongoing exclusive agreement, signed in 2012, with Limagrain — the fourth largest seed company in the world — to test and commercialize Limagrain products in Western Canada.
“The number of potential varieties we’re testing each year has increased by over 20 times since 2012,” says Armstrong. She adds that the first of these products could be seen by farmers in the spring of 2016.
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