Julian Heath, research operations lead at the newly expanded Saskatoon facility, explains the Saskatoon plots to open-house guests. (Leeann Minogue photo)

DuPont Pioneer expands Saskatoon research facility

DuPont Pioneer announced the expansion of its Saskatoon multi-crop research facility at an open house on Friday. The expanded facility will house breeding programs for canola, soybean and “ultra-early maturity” corn. “DuPont Pioneer is focused on developing early-maturing products, and high-yielding products for Canadian farmers,” said Bryce Eger, president of DuPont Pioneer Canada. DuPont Pioneer […] Read more

wheat being viewed under a magnifier

Crop research company develops faster genome mapping system

Faster gene mapping will help wheat breeders develop new wheat varieties more quickly

The Israeli research company NRGene has broken new ground when it comes to speed in mapping maize genomes. It used to take months, or even years to map a complete genome. Now, NRGene has mapped five maize genomes in just five weeks. Guy Kol is one of the company’s founders, and its vice-president of research […] Read more


Canola field next to wild grasses

Putting the farm “on trial”

Farmers are always experimenting. Here are Sarah Weigum’s 
thoughts about different ways of doing research

Last summer I travelled to Indian Head, Sask. where I had the pleasure of visiting the Bell Farm historical site. The Bell Farm is probably Canada’s first mega-farm, topping out at 53,000 acres in the late 1800s. In 1887, a portion of this farm was sold to create the Dominion Experimental Farm, now known as […] Read more