The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and the Alberta Barley Commission (ABC) have announced support for important projects aimed at improving malting barley quality through field agronomy studies and research towards fusarium-resistant barley varieties.

Scientists from the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Research Centre in Lacombe, Alberta are coordinating a malting barley research project at sites across western Canada. The CWB and ABC will jointly contribute $260,000 over four years. The project is also supported by Rahr Malting and the Government of Canada.

The project, run in collaboration with the Canadian Grain Commission's Grains Research Laboratory, will evaluate the impact of agronomic management practices on malt quality. The goal is to provide farmers with practical information on how to optimize yield and quality for selected malting barley.

"This is very important because of its potential to increase supplies of selectable malting barley in Western Canada," said Earl Geddes, CWB vice-president of Product Development and Marketing Support. "That will be a great asset to marketing efforts -- with the ultimate goal of putting more money in the pockets of Prairie barley producers."

ABC general manager Mike Leslie said: "The Alberta Barley Commission is proud to support this type of agronomic research as it will advance the interests of Alberta barley producers."

Geddes said the project complements other CWB initiatives like malting barley protein premiums, storage research, new variety market development and customer service.

The CWB and ABC also support research into fusarium-resistant barley strains at the AAFC Research Centre in Brandon, Manitoba. The ABC is pleased to have facilitated $135,000 over three years from the Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund, of which the ABC is one of four cereal sector signatories. The CWB has committed $300,000.

"Alberta has joined the fight against fusarium to help find ways to arrest this devastating crop disease before it can spread to our fields," said Leslie. "This is now a Prairie-wide collaboration to combat a problem that costs farmers tens of millions of dollars a year in damage to our barley, and lost marketing opportunities."

The Brandon research is also supported by Manitoba's Agri-Food Research and Development Initiative, Saskatchewan's Agriculture Development Fund (through the University of Saskatchewan's Crop Development Centre) and AAFC's Matching Investment Initiative, which matched funds from the Western Grain Research Foundation Barley check-off. This collaborative effort involves the public barley breeding programs in western Canada and AAFC researchers across the country.

Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. The ABC is a not-for-profit organization which is funded, directed and controlled by Alberta barley producers to coordinate and sponsor barley research, market development, technology transfer and policy development.