The major wheat market class we work on is the Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and high-yielding Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) market class. CWRS wheat is known for its superior milling and baking qualities. The main breeding objectives are to develop wheat with improved grain yield, reduced plant height and lodging, suitable end-use quality, and resistance to the five priority 1 diseases, including the three rusts (leaf, stem, and stripe), common bunt, and Fusarium head blight (FHB), to maximize the profits of the wheat industry. As the most northern wheat breeding program, a specific objective is to develop early maturing varieties for the short growing season of the Parkland region of western Canada. Our wheat breeding efforts are divided as follows: (i) breeding CWRS for the Parkland region, (ii) breeding CWRS for the longer-season regions of western Canada, and (iii) breeding CPSR wheat for western Canada.

We carryout all breeding activities in collaboration with other wheat breeders in western Canada. We provide services to other wheat breeders by growing their yield trials and breeding material in the disease nurseries (including the largest stripe rust and FHB screening nursery in the country) we manage. We also coordinate the Parkland Wheat B and registration trial, which includes lines from other western Canadian wheat breeding programs.