Crop research’s ongoing role

July 29, 2025

key points from this story:

• Research plots crucial for crop improvement
• Funding comes from private and public sources
• Prairie crop diversity drives varied research
• Better yields are major research focus
• Input cost vs yield gains remains a challenge
• Farmers must balance research, risk, nature

When you have been covering agricultural stories for as long as this writer you have seen many research plots through the years. The agriculture sector is one which does invest in how to raise better crops with funding from companies invested in the sector – herbicide and fertilizer manufacturers, and thankfully still public dollars from the provincial and federal governments. As a result there have been hundreds of research plots spotted across the Prairies through the years all hoping to show ways to improve crops in the region.

It’s certainly not a quick process, and at times it is even difficult to track what is being accomplished because the research carried out is so diverse. It starts of course simply with how diverse Prairie cropping choices are. While the vast majority of acres are dedicated to canola and wheat, what producers grow include barley, oats, flax, mustard, quinoa, various types of lentils, field peas, beans and chickpeas, and the list goes on. Although many crops are minor in nature, they can be profitable, and that profitability only increases with better varieties or agronomic technology, and both of those come from research efforts.