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Western Canadian farmers can get a preview of the latest crop lines headed their way in a new report delivered out of the Prairie Registration Recommending Committee for Grain (PRRCG) meeting in Banff, Alta.

The Meristem Land and Science 2006 PRRCG Report: Building Canada's New Strategy, offers western Canadian farmers, industry and others a first look at more than 30 of the latest new crop lines recommended to become commercial varieties. It also provides an overview of keynote presentations and panel discussions that tackled key issues facing crop development in Canada.

"The PRRCG, like the crop development system and Canadian agriculture as a whole, is in a period of major transition," says Scott Duguid, PRRCG Chair. "At this year's meeting, a primary focus was on ideas to support Canadian agriculture in this emerging new era."

The crop lines recommended for registration featured a range of important new production and market benefits. Crop lines were recommended for wheat, rye and triticale; oat and barley; pulse and special crops; and oilseeds.

"With all the challenges facing Canadian agriculture, a clear bright spot is the promise of new crop varieties with improvements and innovations to support the industry and shape a new, more prosperous future," says Brad Brinkworth, Senior Editor with Meristem. "At this year's PRRCG meeting, both the candidate cultivars and the discussions reflected a growing emphasis on traits to generate new market opportunities in a range of important areas."

An overview of all the key discussion and recommended crop lines is available in the new report, which was produced by Meristem Information Resources, Ltd., an independent, Calgary-based communications company. It was sponsored in part by Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), a major research funding organization for farmers in Western Canada.

Among the many topics addressed in the report, Dr. Gordon Dorrell, the now retired former Assistant Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Research Branch, discusses of the future of public variety development. Despite a strong track record of success and proven high investment value, public variety development in Canada has grappled with determining its role and finding stable funding support.

The report also delivers highlights of a keynote panel discussion that featured leading crop industry players discussing how Canada can build a research strategy to remain competitive in agriculture.

The 2006 PRRCG Report is developed as a service to western Canadian farmers, industry and the broad stakeholders in Canadian crop development. Producers and others can access the full report on the Meristem Land and Science Web site, www.meristem.com, or through the WGRF Web site, www.westerngrains.com.

Reprintable with permission. Reproduction of this article - in whole or in part, in print or electronic - requires direct permission from Meristem Information Resources, Ltd. Contact Meristem directly to request reprint permission.

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Report offers first look at latest crop lines for Western Canada