Draft day for top crop prospects

The Prairie Registration Recommending Committee for Grain annual meeting is a major step toward the registration of crop lines in several key categories for the Canadian prairie. It also provides a window on the future of Canada’s crop industry.

For many of Western Canada’s new crop lines, the time to step up to the big leagues happens every year around the end of February.

This is when the Prairie Registration Recommending Committee for Grain convenes to evaluate new crop lines in several key categories for the Canadian Prairie, and decide which ones to recommend for federal variety registration. For researchers who spend years developing new crop lines, the meeting is like a draft day for their top prospects — the lines they hope will make the jump from Western Canada’s crop development system into the fields of Prairie growers.

The players represent a who’s who of Prairie crop production - the top crop scientists and extension, leading industry players and producer representatives, and marketing and quality experts on the front-lines of the industry.

High stakes, big issues

The stakes are high. Most crop lines under scrutiny are the result of a decade or more of development and testing, and only those that consistently match or better the performance of standard varieties are recommended.

The PRRCG is comprised of subcommittees that cover four major crop groups.

• Wheat, Rye and Triticale Subcommittee
• Barley and Oat Subcommittee
• Pulse and Special Crops Subcommittee
• Oilseeds Subcommittee

The PRRCG decisions not only determine which varieties will fill Prairie fields for years to come, they put a spotlight on emerging issues in the crop industry. At the 2002 meeting in Winnipeg, the foremost issue was the future of Canada’s variety registration system, as it braces for major changes expected by spring 2003.

This PRRCG Report is an insider’s guide to the Winnipeg meeting. It includes highlights of the key developments and a preview of the top crop prospects recommended for registration.

This PRRCG Report 2002 is sponsored in part by Western Grains Research Foundation, in the interest of informed producer investors in wheat and barley breeding research, and by the Prairie Registration Recommending Committee for Grain. More information on wheat and barley breeding research is available on the Western Grains Research Foundation Web site, www.westerngrains.com.

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