Crop research is receiving a total of $9.7 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments.
Of the $9.7 million, $7.2 million is through the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) to support 39 research projects and $2.5 million through the Strategic Research Initiative (SRI) to study the long-term management of herbicide resistant kochia and wild oats.
Provincial Agriculture Minister David Marit was at the Western Development Museum, where the Sask Crops Forum is being held, to make the announcement Tuesday morning.
"First and foremost, I really got to thank the ADF board, the committee. They go through a lot of projects, probably two or three hundred, and they weed it down to ones that are really important to the farmers and ranchers here in the Province of Saskatchewan," Marit told reporters. "And when you look at the list of the projects that they have approved, it's really some good work. I mean, the one that we just announced obviously for kochia and wild oats is going to be a big one that's really impacting this whole province. It really is, and finding an end to that one would be, obviously, it's going to be a big one."
"A lot of the small projects too are all important, really, from a value-added side," he added. "I had the privilege of being in Moose Jaw a couple of months ago, and I ate a pasta that was made of a lentil flour. I mean, that's all research and technology that's happened here in the Province of Saskatchewan. And getting the protein and then finding how to use the starches and other products, but really finding the disease side and the tolerance side is important for us if we want to continue to grow the ag sector here in the province of Saskatchewan."
An additional $3.2 million from 13 industry partners across Canada are supporting these projects, including a handful from Saskatchewan: SaskWheat, SaskBarley, SaskOilseeds, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, Sask Canary Seed and SaskOats.
Other groups include Alberta Grains, the Western Grains Research Foundation, and Manitoba Crop Alliance.
