HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1994-03-16, Page 54t Alm
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Page 36 -Farm Progress '94
It's a joint effort to find the perfect oat
To find the perfect oat, you need
a map. And that course is being
charted by Agriculture and Agri -
Food Canada's Plant • Research
Centre in Ottawa, the Quaker Oats
Company of Canada and the univer-
sities of Cornell, Minnesota and
Iowa State.
Deemed as one of the most im-
portant and advanced oat research
projects ever conducted, the effort
is driven by the surging demand for
oats in food and other products.
The goal is to help in pinpointing
genes responsible for the desirable
characteristics of the oat and cut
down the time needed for the
breeder to incorporate these genes
into new oat varieties.
Once grown extensively as feed
for horses, oat production declined
as machines replaced animals as a
means of transportation. Interest has
been rekindled in the wake of
reported health benefits provided to
consumers of oats.
New applications for oat products
are also fuelling the demand. The
pharmaceutical and cosmetics in-
dustries for example, have dis-
covered new uses such as using oat
starch in eye make-up. As well,
oats are used in producing ethanol,
a renewable energy source.
The Quaker Oats Company, one
of the largest users of food oats in
the world, took note of the fact oats
had a life beyond the porridge
bowl. But the company recognized
that satisfying the demands of the
consumer, while maintaining the
competitiveness of the crop, would
be difficult because new varieties
with specialized characteristics
would take years to develop.
The company identified the need
to map out the genetic makeup of
the oat plant in order to shave years
off the time it takes to breed new
varieties.
When Quaker Canada went
looking for research collaborators, it
thought of Agriculture and Agri -
Food Canada's scientists, known
internationally for their experience
and expertise. The company also
wanted to take advantage of having
a complete range of capabilities,
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from oat breeding to sophisticated
molecular genetics technology
under one roof. so while Agricul-
ture and Agri -food Canada provides
the facilities, laboratories and per-
sonnel, Quaker is helping with
funding and technical direction for
the project.
The universities in the U.S. are
conducting their own research
including work on gene pools and
transgenics. Any information
gathered by the universities is
shared with Agriculture and Agri -
Food Canada and Quaker Oats.
This project allows us to find out
more about the molecular structure
of oats and secondly,it gives us an
opportunity to improve agronomic
performance while maintaining the
nutritional value of oats," says Dave
Goslin, Quaker Oats Canada's
Director of Quality Assurance.
"The project's objective is to
collectively gather enough research
expertise to have a timely impact
on the oats community and to
develop within that community a
base of technology for the future,"
Goslin says. The project could
benefit oat producers down the road
by providing "better varieties more
quickly," he adds.
Consumers will benefit through
,both improved products and a wider
range of products.
The five-year, $5 -million project
began in 1989. About S1.2 million
was directed toward research at the
Plant Research Centre. The im-
mediate objective was to identify
and map the genes responsible for
agronomic and commercial traits in
oats. The long-term objective is to
use that information to improve the
agronomic and quality characteris-
tics of oats.
The first objective has already
borne fruit.
George Fedak, an Agriculture and
Agri -Food Canada molecular
geneticist, has been using leading-
edge biotechnology to unravel the
mysteries of oat DNA.
"We've had some interesting
results to date," says Fedak. "The
map of the oat genome is shaping
up, and along the way, we've been
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able to identify and tag the genes
responsible for resistance to stem
rust and crown rust. This will be a
big help to the breeding programs,
and more information is on the
way."
Talks are under way to extend the
research agreement further. "We
have accomplished a lot and there
is still a lot more to do," Goslin
says.
There's growing
interest in
ecological
farming
Southwestern Ontario seems to
be the hub of activity for a
movement that's gaining steam.
At meetings throughout the area
this winter, farmers are hearing
about exciting new market op-
portunities if they switch to
"ecological" methods of farming.
On the surface, that involves
forsaking the use of all artificial
fertilizers, pesticides and for
livestock farmers, most
veterinary drugs. But Ted Zeuel,
Public Relations Director for the
Ecological Farmers Association
of Ontario (EFAO), says the
changes go much deeper. He
changed his 30 cow, 300
acre/cash crop farm to ecological
methods 10 years ago. What
impressed him most was the
"common sense approach" that
ecological farmers used to make
many off -farm inputs unneces-
sary.
One example is fertilizer.
"Livestock manure is a valuable
resource that is often wasted
here in Ontario. By carefully
conserving manure, along with
growing cover crops, reducing
tillage, and eliminating toxins,
we were able to stop buying
fertilizer."
Farmers who go all the way
down this road and become
"certified organic"can. realize
healthy premiums by catering to
the blossoming environment and
health -motivated, baby -boomer
consumer.
Harro Wehrmann is general
manager of Ontar-bio Organic
Farmers Coop, and grows or-
ganic crops on his 600 acre.
spread near Ripley. He told a
room full of potential new
growers in Wroxeter recently
about steady growth in the
demand for organic spelt, soft
wheat, soybeans and hulless oats.
"Solid premium prices are the
norm" he said, citing $80/tonne
over wheat -board price, paid for
soft wheat last year. That story
was echoed by Gerald Poech-
man, Ontar-bio's President, who
has Canada's first certified or-
ganic eggs selling like hotcakes
in Toronto and Montreal.
Dairy farmers may soon be in
on the act too according to
Lawrence Andres, who milks 50
cows himself and is working
with about 15 other
turn producers to
get organic dairy products on the
to page 38