Dr. Jay Patel, leader of the spring canola group at Pioneer Hi-Bred Production Ltd., has been recognized with the 2006 Canadian Plant Breeding & Genetics Award for his outstanding work with canola, Canada’s golden crop. Co-sponsored by the Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) and Germination magazine, this award recognizes the outstanding contribution of a Canadian researcher to the advancement of plant agriculture. Patel received the award this week at the CSTA’s Semi-Annual Meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Patel’s work with Pioneer has seen him develop and release varieties which have established themselves as longtime benchmarks for the canola industry, accounting for 20 million acres in North America since 1995 and over 1 million in Australia since 1999. He has strived to make canola a more profitable choice for farmers and a more beneficial nutrition source for consumers.

Patel has released 36 varieties, including a number of industry firsts and standards, such as 45A71 – the first commercial canola variety in Canada with the Clearfield trait and the one still widely used in other successful breeding programs. Patel’s varieties are also some of the top yielders of the canola world, with varieties such as 45H72, 46H02, and 46A76, the latter extremely popular in Western Canada. 46A65, Patel’s conventional open-pollinated variety, was released over a decade ago and is still a bench-marker for open-pollinated canola varieties for both yield and oil content

Looking to the end-user and the consumer, Patel has also recognized the demand for healthy cooking oil alternatives. High oleic and low alpha-linolenic fatty acid canola oils have been developed for high cooking and frying temperatures. Patel developed 45A37 in 1995, which was the first mid-oleic/low linolenic variety. This year Patel released 46P50, a Roundup Ready hybrid that has the highest oil content ever commercialized in Canada.

“By keeping in mind both farmer and consumer needs, Patel’s canola breeding accomplishments have had a tremendous impact on the canola industry in Canada,” says Dorothy Murrell, President of the CSTA.

“Innovations in plant breeding deserve national attention,” says Robynne Anderson, publisher of Germination. “It is the foundation for Canada’s important agricultural sector, which represents more than 8% of our GDP.”

This is the sixth Plant Breeder’s Award CSTA has given.

The Canadian Seed Trade Association is committed to fostering an environment conducive to researching, developing, distributing, and trading seed and associated technologies, with the goal of bettering the choices and successes of its members and their customers.

Germination is the magazine of the Canadian seed industry. It is the first and only magazine aimed specifically at Canada’s seed industry and features the latest technological developments, breeding breakthroughs, and more.