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Eleven canola research projects will receive a total of $3.4 million in funding as part of the 2025 intake of the Canola Agronomic Research Program (CARP).

Created by the Province in March 2020 and launched for operation the following spring, Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) is a farmer-led, not-for-profit corporation with a 10-year budget of $370 million. In support of projects across the value chain from farm to store shelf, its central priority is to boost farm productivity, profitability and competitiveness. As a researcher and administrator, Sheri Strydhorst knows how to produce results, and in October was hired as the organization’s research program manager for crops.

Alberta may be famous for its beef, but the province is also home to a thriving pork sector. Canada is the third largest global pork exporter, and approx. 20% of that pork is raised here in Alberta. Healthy pigs are foundational to this success, and genomic tools are helping pig breeders maximize pig health and reduce the impact of disease on animal welfare.

In modern farming, innovation is key to addressing both biotic and abiotic stresses. Exciting research being done out of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Remote Sensing and Phenomics Lab (RSP Lab) at the Lethbridge Research and Development Centre is harnessing data-driven tools to transform farming practices, including helping accelerate the development of new crop varieties.

New University of Alberta research aims to genetically reduce methane emissions from beef cattle, while making that technology easier for producers to use.

In an innovative project led by RDAR (Results Driven Agriculture Research), pulse growers may have found a new market for their frost-damaged faba beans: feeding them to pigs. Frost-damaged faba beans, typically considered waste, are now being evaluated for their nutritional value in swine diets, potentially offering a cost-effective feed alternative for producers and an expanded market for pulse farmers.

Strydhorst is well-known in the cropping industry with over 20 years in research and agriculture. She holds a PhD from the University of Alberta and has previously held positions with Alberta Pulse Growers, Alberta Agriculture, Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions and most recently, her own consulting firm, Sheri’s Ag Consulting Inc. Strydhorst also farms with her family near Neerlandia, Alta.

Canola breeding has come a long way since Canadian researchers isolated and bred low erucic acid Brassica napus plants in the 1970s. Canadian canola growers have benefitted from the introduction of herbicide-resistant traits, as well as specialty oil, drought tolerance, season length and, of course, ever-increasing yield.

When producers go out to their cattle in late winter or early spring and see them itching, or with bald patches, their mind usually thinks lice infestation. Sometimes they run them through and give the cattle insecticide treatment, or have their veterinarian examine them.

At Livestock Gentec, researchers begin each project the same way — with a road trip. They head out of the city, gathering at farm gates and kitchen tables to ask Canadian livestock producers one question: “What keeps you up at night?”