University of saskatchewan

1. G L O B A L I N S T I T U T E for F O O D S E C U R I T Y
S A S K AT C H E W A N , C A N A D A
The University of Saskatchewan, based in Saskatoon,
Canada, is at the forefront of Canada’s research efforts
to become a global innovator in solving food security
challenges. Over the past century, and through international
collaborations in its signature area of food security, the
University has led visionary research and innovation to help
grow a province and feed a growing nation.
The University has one of the world’s largest hubs of food-
system related researchers with more than 160 basic, applied
and social scientists. Their expertise covers most aspects of
the food supply chain, spanning numerous colleges, graduate
schools, centres, and disciplines. With a research focus on
sustainable high-yield production and quality, research
teams at the University aim to push the boundaries of what
can be grown and raised in prairie environments to help
address global food security challenges. Now with the Global
Institute for Food Security added to the campus cluster
of world-class facilities, these teams will be even better-
equipped to develop and deliver science, technology and
policy solutions to help feed a hungry world.
The University of Saskatchewan
• Strengths: resource management, crop development
and animal health.
• Emerging strengths: agricultural trade and innovation
policy, bio-processing and usage, and human nutrition.
• Relevant research facilities unparalleled in Canada:
- globally recognized: Canadian Light Source synchrotron
(e.g. molecular basis of nutrition and food safety); Vaccine
and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO)-International
Vaccine Centre (InterVac) (animal health and food safety
research); phytotron, one of the largest controlled-environment
plant growth facilities in the world;
- nationally recognized: Crop Development Centre; new Global
Institute for Water Security; and the Social Sciences Research
Laboratories (wide range of socio-economic and modeling
research), as well as two major federal facilities on campus –
Agriculture and AgriFood Canada and National Research
Council Canada.
• Extensive network of research partners around the globe.
World-renowned centre of excellence in crop development
New and improved crops:
• More than 345 commercial crop varieties
have been developed at the Crop
Development Centre at the University of
Saskatchewan, with innovations in spring
and winter wheats, durum, barley, oat,
flax, and pulses.
• Four wheat varieties for Western
Canadian producers developed since
2003 and several DNA markers are
routinely used by durum wheat
breeders globally.
• Rust-resistant wheat: Using conventional
breeding techniques, genes for rust
resistance were transferred from wild
grasses to wheat varieties now grown
around the world.
• Pulse crop leader: U of S research has
been key to building Canada’s pulse
crop industry. In the early 1970s when
U of S started a breeding program,
fewer than a dozen Saskatchewan
farmers grew lentils. Today pulse
crops are a billion-dollar provincial
industry, and Laird is the most widely
recognized lentil variety in the world.
• “Greener” animal feed: Hog feed from
a new barley variety with low levels of
the natural compound phytate reduces
phosphate in hog manure and the
environmental footprint of hog operations,
while lowering feed costs for producers.
• Part of regional cluster that brought
canola to the global marketplace: Now
a major generator of value in Canada
and abroad.
Food and bio-products for a sustainable future – a signature area of U of S research

2. Improving Food Security in the
Highlands of Ethiopia through
improved and sustainable
agricultural productivity and
human nutrition
Partnering with Hawassa University
(HU) in Ethiopia, as well as International
Development and Research Centre
(IDRC) and Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), University
of Saskatchewan researchers are
working to increase the capacity of
Ethiopia to improve food security and
human nutrition. This is being done
through training agricultural specialists
on the breeding, cultivation and farm
implementation of pulse crops and
targeting Ethiopian women as “agents”
for change for adopting and integrating
improved production methods.
Integrated nutrient and water
management for sustainable
food production in the Sahel
Partnering with Canadian development
agencies and researchers, the University
of Saskatchewan is involved in a project
in the West African countries of Burkina
Faso, Niger, Mali, and Benin to increase
production of cowpea sorghum and
millets by improving the availability of soil
nutrients and moisture for these crops.
Traditionally grown by women, expanding
production will enhance household income
and promote gender equality.
Development of a Subunit
Vaccine for Contagious Bovine
Pleuropneumonia in Africa
Partnering with the Kenya Agricultural
Research Institute, the Veterinary
Research Center (KARI-VRC) and Kenya’s
International Livestock Research Institute
(ILRI), University of Saskatchewan
researchers are working to develop a safe
and highly effective subunit vaccine to
address the severe impact of Contagious
Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), one of
the most economically important trade
diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. Such
a vaccine will be cost effective, easy to
produce and of great economic benefit to
livestock owners in sub-Saharan Africa.
The institute’s CDN$50 million in partner funding will provide research solutions across the food supply system. Funding
will enable recruitment of top faculty, students and other research personnel; new research and training projects and
programs; development of international partnerships; hiring of undergraduate research assistants; purchase of specialized
research equipment; and a visiting scholars program.
U of S activity in food security around the world:
Transforming agriculture through new and improved crops
More than 345 commercial crop varieties have been developed at the University of Saskatchewan, with innovations in
spring and winter wheat, durum, barley, oats, flax, and pulses. The research was the main driver behind Saskatchewan’s
billion-dollar pulse crop industry. The research conducted at the University’s Crop Development Centre has allowed
Saskatchewan to lead the world in exporting peas, lentils, and chickpeas – staple foods in fast-growing countries such
as India, China, Bangladesh, and northern Africa.
Improving international health through synchrotron research
University of Saskatchewan synchrotron scientists and Canada Research Chairs – Ingrid Pickering and Graham George –
are part of an international team using the Canadian Light Source synchrotron to help solve the mystery of why millions
of people in Bangladesh and parts of India get sick from drinking well water. The wells do contain low levels of naturally
occurring arsenic, but the team theorized that perhaps the Bangladeshis weren’t actually suffering from arsenic poisoning,
but rather that arsenic in the drinking water was eliminating the already scant selenium in the body, making the population
selenium deficient. The team’s groundbreaking research uncovered the mechanism behind this binding of elements – work
that has led to an American-led clinical trial to test the effect of selenium dietary supplements. As Saskatchewan soil is rich
in selenium, Saskatchewan lentil crops can play a key role in improving the health of people in the Bangladesh region.
Agriculture grassland research
Agriculture researcher Dr. Bruce Coulman has a collaborative research project with the Inner Mongolia Agricultural
University (IMAU) on the use of perennial forage legumes and grasses for sustainable feed production in crop areas and
for complementary grazing and hay systems for native grasslands. The team found that none of the Chinese varieties
performed well in Canada, but some of the Canadian varieties did very well in China. This may be valuable information
for Chinese farmers and for Canadian seed companies that export Canadian forage seed to China.