“We kept hearing anecdotally that these Californian honeybees were surviving with way fewer treatments. I wanted to test them rigorously and understand the driving force behind what the beekeepers were seeing,” said Genesis Chong-Echavez, a UCR graduate student and lead author of the study, in an article from the university.

WHY IT MATTERS: Varroa mites can devastate Canadian beekeepers’ hives, and go-to control methods have become less effective, leading producers to look for new methods to protect honeybees.

Varroa mites are an invasive parasite that has plagued North American beekeepers since the late 1980s. The mites weaken the bees by feeding on their fat stores, and also can carry viruses. Varroa mites are a consistent contender among the top four causes of winter bee loss in Canada, as noted by the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists.

Chong-Echavez’s team found bee colonies led by locally-raised Californian hybrid honeybee queens had about 68 per cent fewer mites, on average, than hives with commercial queens.

While these populations were not entirely varroa mite-free, they were more than five times less likely to hit the threshold at which chemical treatment is necessary.

Local bee larvae attract fewer mites

The resistant bees came from a genetically-mixed population established in southern California — often from “feral” colonies living in trees, the UC Riverside article said. They were found to have mixed ancestry steming from African, eastern European, Middle Eastern and western European genetics.

Varroa mites must enter bee brood cells to reproduce. In lab experiments with developing honeybee larvae, researchers found mites were less attracted to the locally-adapted bees than commercial bees.

“What surprised me most was the differences showed up even at the larval stage,” Chong-Echavez said. “This suggests the resistance mechanism may go deeper than some kind of behaviour and may be genetically built into the bees themselves.”

The research team next intends to investigate the signals that may make the locally-adapted larvae less attractive to mites.

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Some plants do this by putting a pause on productivity until the weather improves. In our recently published research, we discovered which genes control the “pause-and-play” mechanism of plant growth and are key for the survival of Canada’s crops.

Our goal is to understand the genetic factors that control growth so they can eventually be used to improve the ability of Canadian and global crops to handle weather stresses like drought, heat and cold temperatures.

A changing climate means extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. These findings could help create climate-resilient, genetically engineered crops that can recover faster and more efficiently after climate shocks.

These plants might be more likely to complete their life cycle and produce food during the harvest season, even after experiencing snowstorms, heat waves or flooding.

How plants handle weather stress

To get an idea of how plants tolerate stress, we measured root growth under a series of environmental stresses that Canadian and globally relevant crops commonly face throughout their life cycles. These included cold temperatures, salt stress and drought-like conditions. For our first experiments, we used thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana).

Roots are particularly useful for this type of research because they grow continuously and respond quickly to environmental change.

By measuring root length over time, we could see when growth slowed down and when it resumed. We tested the root length in model organism.

We found that tested plants paused their root growth when exposed to cold or salt stress. When the stress was removed and the plants returned to normal growing conditions, root growth resumed as normal within about 24 hours.

However, plants did not respond the same way to every type of stress. We found that plants can recover from osmotic or drought stress, but it takes a little longer for them to do so. We referred to that dynamic as “pause and push” because plants need time to push through and recover.

To test whether the same stress response occurs in other plant species, we partnered with researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture. Together, we repeated the experiments using two wild grasses that are closely related to major cereal crops: brachypodium (Brachypodium distachyon) and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum).

The grasses showed similar patterns of stress response and recovery. That suggests the mechanism that pauses and restarts growth may be shared across many plant species.

Pinpointing stress-recovery genes

Observing these dynamics is one thing, but how can scientists figure out what’s going on at the genetic and molecular level?

One common approach is to attach a fluorescent marker to genes of interest. Scientists often use a green fluorescent protein, originally discovered in jellyfish, that glows under specific light.

When this protein is inserted into a plant genome, researchers can fuse it to a gene of interest to see when and where that gene becomes active as it lights up inside cells.

We knew that the lack of growth during stress was due to a decrease in cell division, so we targeted genes related to cell division. Using fluorescent markers, we observed how the plant cells lit up differently in response to stress and stress recovery.

After counting thousands of cells for months, we could see certain genes were present in fewer cells when plants were under cold, drought and salt stress. However, within about 24 hours of being put back into optimal growth conditions, their numbers returned to normal.

One gene stood out in particular: Cyclin-dependent Kinase A;1 (CDKA;1). This gene helps regulate the cell cycle, the process that controls when cells divide and grow. A related gene named CDK1 exists in animals and humans, where it performs similar functions.

After performing more experiments targeting CDKA;1 in plants, we found that inhibiting the gene prevented plants from recovering from cold and salt stress. This suggests CDKA;1 plays a vital role in helping plants resume growth once environmental conditions stabilize.

Supporting food security

Our focus is on helping crops recover faster. We can’t stop heat waves or snowstorms. Pinpointing genes, however, can help plants recover from these events and still produce in time for harvest.

Understanding these genes opens the door to new approaches in crop breeding. Researchers could look for natural variants of these genes that already exist in crop populations. Traditional breeding programs could then select for varieties that recover faster after stress.

Another option is modern gene-editing tools such as CRISPR. This tool allows scientists to make precise changes to a plant’s DNA, including strengthening or adjusting genes involved in stress recovery.

As our research progresses, we hope to adjust the genetics of these Canadian crop varieties and create our own CRISPR-edited lines that are better able to cope with a changing climate.

Improving stress recovery could also expand where crops can be grown. Regions that currently experience unpredictable weather or short growing seasons may become more suitable for agriculture if crops can recover quickly after stress.

For Canada, this could help stabilize production in areas where climate variability is increasing. For the global food system, it could make crops better equipped to handle the environmental uncertainty expected in the coming decades.

By identifying the genes that allow plants to pause growth during stress and restart, we’re beginning to understand a critical survival strategy in plants. This knowledge can eventually help ensure crops continue to produce reliable harvests in a changing climate.

—Arif Ashraf is an assistant professor in the University of British Columbia’s department of botany. Olivia Hazelwood is a PhD student in the department of botany.

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The project’s lead researcher is so excited she’s putting off retirement.

“I want the first experiment in a system like this. This is so exciting,” Karen Schwean-Lardner said in a University of Saskatchewan news release.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation announced $6.2 million in funding to build a state-of-the-art poultry laying facility at the University. The foundation is a federal government-created non-profit set up in 1997 to fund research infrastructure in Canada.

WHY IT MATTERS: The proposed facility will allow researchers to improve poultry barn lighting, housing and food systems for better animal welfare and egg production.

The Saskatchewan Egg Producers contributed $3 million while the university’s agriculture and bioresource department added $1 million.

“This will move us so far forward in poultry research,” said Schwean-Lardner in the release. Schwean-Lardner is a professor in the university’s department of animal and poultry science.

The nearly 24,000-square-foot facility is set to include three types of hen housing: enriched, free run and free-range. Ten individual housing rooms will have controls for lighting, temperature and other environmental factors.

“Each one is like a little mini-barn,” Schwean-Larder told media.

“Big data is getting more attention these days. We have a lot of data that can be gathered over time, and this unit is going to allow us to manage that data and collect it over a long period of time,” assistant professor Deborah Adewole said. “There are going to be a lot of new things that we can do for poultry research.”

The facility will also include viewing rooms so public groups — for example, schoolchildren — can see the chickens and housing systems while reducing biosecurity risks.

“We can control the environment. Right now, we cannot do that in the same way,” said Adewole. “This facility is one of its kind in Canada. There are other universities that have built new facilities, but this one is encompassing all systems and has space for public viewing systems as well — which is a first in Canada.”

Schwean-Larder said her first experiment would look at the effects of light on the hens and will involve researchers from the U.S.

“To be able to do that kind of research with an international perspective, I can’t stand it. I’m losing my voice because I’m excited.”

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“This significant investment strengthens our ability to bring forward the next generation of high-performing hybrids, supporting yield gains, agronomic resilience and long-term success for Canadian farmers,” Leta LaRush, vice-president of BASF Agricultural Solutions Canada, said today in a news release.

BASF announced the expansion of the Canola Breeding Centre of Innovation in Saskatoon. Construction will begin this spring with completion expected by the end of 2027.

WHY IT MATTERS: With climate change driving weather unpredictability, canola producers need varieties that survive better and yield more.

The expansion will add advanced infrastructure, including precision-controlled growth systems and a research-grade glasshouse, the company said in the news release. These will increase breeding capacity and shorten innovation cycles, it added.

“These enhancements are critical to implementing genomic selection at scale, enabling faster, more precise breeding decisions and accelerating genetic gain across all InVigor programs,” BASF said.

The new glasshouse – a facility that enables researchers to develop experimental climates — is designed to support future hybrid breeding programs.

The centre will focus on the development of new InVigor hybrid canola varieties to better withstand changing environmental pressures and accommodate growing global demand.

Saskatchewan agriculture minister David Marit said the announcement was great news.

“It just shows the research that’s happening here and the confidence of a company like BASF to invest here. They see opportunities around the research and looking at genetics,” Marit told Glacier FarmMedia.

“You look at where the canola industry is going just in the least 15 years with new varieties, new higher oil contents, straight cut varieties, higher drought tolerant varieties — it just adds to what’s going on here in the province.”

-With files from Karen Briere

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In a March 9 letter to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Heath MacDonald, the group called for an “immediate pause on closures and employee terminations for a minimum of 24 months” so the government can re-evaluate decisions and protect “irreplaceable components of the research system, or offer enhancements to Canada’s agriculture landscape that may have been overlooked.”

WHY IT MATTERS: The planned closure of seven federal research centres and farms across Canada has been widely panned by agriculture groups, which say Canada could be less innovative and competative as a result.

The letter also calls for full transparency on the decision-making process and disclosure of any impact analysis done.

The group includes groups like the National Farmers Union (NFU), Canadian Organic Growers, Alberta Federation of Agriculture and Canadian Seed Growers Association.

The groups say the research cuts, which included over 600 staff and seven research stations, were made without consultation with farm groups or proper cost-benefit analysis.

It also criticized the suggestion universities and the private sector could make up for research cut by the government.

Universities “are cash-strapped, and grant funding is short term, precarious, and often tied to commercial partners,” the groups wrote. “They do not have access to the secure, dedicated land base or provide the stability required for long-term studies and multi-site plant breeding trials or agronomic studies.”

Private sector research, it added, is “shaped by commercial priorities and cannot address the range of research topics needed by farmers or for Canada’s long-term food and agriculture sector’s success.”

It also said research at the shuttered stations are vital to combating complex issues like climate change and disease.

“It is increasingly clear to us that the decision to eliminate this critical public research infrastructure was made without considering its true value to farmers, the Canadian public and the future of our food and agriculture system,” the groups said.

In hearings before the House of Commons agriculture committee, federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald said it’s too expensive to keep all research facilities open. Operational costs had been allowed to get “out of hand,” he said in a February hearing, and the sites had substantial maintenance backlogs.

The cuts to AAFC research and staffing have also drawn criticism from opposition MPs.

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The Canadian Wheat Research Coalition, which represents farmer-led organizations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, has concluded that Canada’s wheat breeding system is “no longer working.”

In a report published Feb. 26, the CWRC said farmers and other players need to join forces and build something better.

“Securing the future of wheat in Canada requires a reimagining of our wheat breeding innovation system,” says the report.

“The CWRC has a lead role to play in securing the future for wheat in Canada and is currently exploring options to transform the wheat breeding innovation system.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Wheat (spring wheat and durum) is the largest acreage crop in Western Canada and farmers rely heavily on varieties developed by Agricutlure Canada scientists.

Jocelyn Velestuk, who chairs the CWRC and farms near Broadview, Sask., said it’s unclear what transforming the system will look like, but it will be a collaborative process.

“We will be including stakeholders,” she said.

The CWRC, a coalition of Alberta Grains, SaskWheat and the Manitoba Crop Alliance, began working on the wheat breeding report last fall.

It evaluated the current system, which is dominated by breeding programs at Agriculture Canada.

Every year, about 80 per cent of all wheat fields in Canada have an AAFC variety.

Much of the coalition’s work and consultations with 29 stakeholders was done before late January, when Agriculture Canada announced cuts and closures of research centres across the country.

In its report, the CWRC described the five steps in the wheat breeding process:

• foundational science
• germplasm enhancement
• variety development
• pre-market evaluation and testing
• commercialization

The weakness in Canada’s system are steps three and four, Velestuk said.

“The places we found the biggest gaps were in variety development and pre-market evaluation and testing.”

That’s partly explained by federal budget cuts in 2012 when Agriculture Canada closed a research centre in Winnipeg and testing sites in Manitoba and Regina.

“(A) loss of 60,000 plots and reduced (the) number of early generation breeding lines under evaluation,” the report says.

Breeder says change is needed

Richard Cuthbert, a former wheat breeder with Agriculture Canada in Swift Current, Sask., says the public system to develop wheat varieties has lost “capacity.”

The number of small plots for testing potential varieties across a wide a wide range of geographic, climate and soil types in Western Canada has shrunk over the last 15 years.

A breeder needs sufficient data from dozens of sites and hundreds of thousands of small plots to make informed choices and bring game changing varieties to market.

“It’s a fact that we need more capacity and capacity is costly,” said Cuthbert, who resigned from Agriculture Canada in January.

“That’s been lost along the way… (and) taken for granted that small plot (research) will just happen. Disease nurseries (will) just happen. Quality testing (will) just happen.”

What’s next?

The CWRC plans to play a lead role in what happens with wheat breeding in Canada. There are funding agreements in place with Agriculture Canada and universities on the Prairies to continue breeding and varietal development research until 2028.

The immediate next steps are conversations between the Wheat Research Coalition and Agriculture Canada, Velestuk said.

Growers, breeders, seed companies and others will be part of the discussions to design a new funding model and approach to breeding and varietal development.

How that will turn ou, is hard to say, but the final line in the CWRC report delivers a clear message.

“The future of wheat breeding in Canada is in the hands of farmers.”

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While wetlands sequester carbon, they also naturally release greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere. That means the impact of wetland drainage on net GHG emissions was previously difficult to determine.

Our new study, however, has found that widespread wetland drainage on Prairie farmland releases 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-eq) per year. That’s equal to more than five per cent of Prairie agricultural emissions from the industry as a whole. CO₂-eq is a metric used to to compare emissions from different greenhouse gases by converting amounts of those gases to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.

Our research team included Darrin Qualman from the National Farmers Union, Sydney Jensen, a then-graduate student at the University of Regina, as well as Murray Hidlebaugh and Scott Beaton, independent farmers in the Canadian Prairies.

Some tout wetland drainage as providing numerous benefits to agriculture. In addition to increasing arable land area, proponents argue that “proper drainage management … reduces the carbon footprint by cutting down equipment operation time, fuel and emissions, reduces the impacts of extreme weather events, and decreases overland flooding and nutrient washouts.”

This assertion of the environmental benefits associated with wetland drainage is not supported by science. Our work highlights a large increase in the carbon footprint associated with wetland drainage rather than a reduction, while other work documents impacts on streamflows and nutrient export, and the loss of ducks and other birds.

The impacts of draining wetlands

To quantify the net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with wetland drainage, our approach was to quantify GHG sources when wetlands are intact, and compare them with sources after drainage takes place to understand the net effect of wetland removal on emissions. The annual rate of wetland loss from existing data (10,820 hectares per year) was used to quantify associated carbon emissions for the region.

Intact wetlands emit GHGs such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, so their removal eliminates these natural emissions from the landscape. The presence of wetlands in fields can also require repeated machinery passes and lead to double fertilization around wetland margins, both of which contribute to GHG emissions.

When wetlands are drained, carbon-rich sediments are exposed to the air, allowing rapid decomposition and the release of carbon dioxide. Drainage also expands cropland area, leading to additional GHG emissions from farming activities on the newly cultivated land. It often requires the removal of rings of willow trees surrounding wetlands, with the resulting debris typically burned or composted, producing further emissions.

Our results show that the amount of carbon dioxide released from exposed soil from drained wetlands far exceeded any other source. This was much larger than emissions when wetlands were intact, including natural wetland emissions and emissions from multiple passes with machinery. Additional emissions from farming the former wetland and the removal of vegetation also made a small contribution to the overall balance.

Overall, we estimate that wetland drainage contributes to an annual increase in emissions of at least 2.1 million tonnes CO₂-eq (recognizing that stored carbon will be released over a multi-year period). It is worth noting that this includes natural emissions from intact wetlands, but emissions that are not human-caused are not typically targeted in an effort to achieve GHG reductions.

For example, reducing methane emissions from livestock is a strategy to reduce agricultural GHG emissions, but emissions from wild animals are not considered or incorporated in the same way. Our estimate swells to 3.4 million tonnes of CO₂-eq per year when we exclude natural wetland GHG emissions; this represents an increase of approximately eight per cent above currently quantified GHG emissions from the agricultural industry in the Prairie provinces.

Canada’s GHG Inventory

Canada uses a National Inventory Report to quantify GHG emissions from different jurisdictions and industries, but emissions associated with wetland drainage are not currently included. Emissions of 3.4 million tonnes of CO₂-eq from a single year of wetland drainage are substantial and exceed several emission sources currently described in the report.

For example, emissions from wetland destruction are greater than agricultural emissions from gasoline combustion in trucks or from poultry and swine manure in the Prairie provinces. Including emissions from wetland drainage in the National Inventory Report would provide a more accurate accounting of total agricultural emissions and better position the country to meet its climate commitments.

Prairie farmers play a key stewardship role in this landscape — preserving wetlands on their land provides a public good. Retaining wetlands would create many additional benefits: maintaining wildlife habitats, groundwater recharge, nutrient retention, as well as drought and flood mitigation. These wetland services help address global and regional crises related to biodiversity loss, climate change, lake eutrophication and flooding.

Research shows there is public willingness to pay to restore wetlands in the Prairie provinces. There is additionally a need to reduce conflict and increase collaboration in conversations on agricultural water management in the Canadian Prairies and develop policies that incentivize and enable landowners to consider the environmental benefits of wetlands in their decision making. By better understanding the costs of GHG emissions resulting from wetland drainage, we can better preserve wetlands in the Canadian Prairies.

—Kerri Finlay is a professor in the University of Regina’s biology department, Colin Whitfiled is an associate professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Environment and Sustainability and Lauren Bortolotti is an adjust professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Environment and Sustainability.

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“Canada possesses significant agricultural potential, but legacy structures, regulatory fragmentation, aging infrastructure and heightened geopolitical trade risks are constraining the sector’s growth and competitiveness,” the report says.

“Rebuilding confidence among producers, investors and trading partners will require a clear, long-term vision for Canada’s agri-food system.”

The Canada West Foundation, a west-focused think tank, released Building Future Success: Growing Canada’s agricultural sector on February 19. It summarizes discussions from a roundtable of agriculture, business and government experts convened in late 2025.

It argues that the progress of Canadian agri-food as a priority depends on action across four interconnected themes:

• On-farm investment
• Market and product diversification
• Infrastructure
• Technology and innovation

On-farm investment

The report argues that Canada needs more small-scale investment opportunities, as most current infrastructure focuses on larger-scale projects. It also needs infrastructure upgrades to help mitigate the risks of climate change.

The report authors also note the opportunities with a new generation of producers.

“A generational shift is reinforcing this opportunity,” the report reads. “Younger producers are more open to partnerships, cooperative models and public-private collaboration.”

Agriculture could take lessons from early stages in energy project development, “particularly in co-investment models that enable shared infrastructure and de-risk private capital,” the report adds.

Market and product diversification

On market and product diversification, the report focuses on potential for new opportunities for Canadian commodities.

The roundtable identifies value-added processing as an area for potential development. They also emphasize the need for market intelligence to identify emerging opportunities for Canadian goods, both raw and processed.

Infrastructure

Roundtable participants raise concerns that Canada’s reputation as a trading partner suffering as a result of infrastructure decisions.

More representation from the sector could help address this problem.

“Moving forward, port governance and decision making should include engagement with representatives from the agriculture sector to ensure sectoral needs are considered as trade patterns and partners evolve,” the report says.

Technology and innovation

The report’s discussion on technology and innovation makes the case for increased research and development and for investments to focus on the sector as a whole.

Sector leaders raise concerns about the disconnect between research priorities and on-farm needs.

“Investments in the Canadian agricultural sector have generally been quite targeted and have not been focused on benefiting the sector as a whole,” the report says. “On the other hand, some other countries employ a more holistic, industry-wide approach.”

Industry protection starts with policy

The report makes a case for prioritizing agriculture in an era when trust in Canada’s two largest trading partners is decreasing.

Protecting the industry starts with domestic policy that recognizes the importance of the sector and “does not expect one industry to bear the brunt of geopolitical retaliation,” it says.

The report points to recent trade tensions with China, which saw canola tariffed in apparent response to Canada’s restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles. Some within the sector saw this as canola being used as collateral in a larger trade dispute.

“Regulatory frameworks that reflect this prioritization and are built in consultation with sector stakeholders could also help address some of the challenges the government has faced when weighing the economic, environmental and social impacts along with the benefits of the sector.”

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“Canadian farmers will benefit from opportunities for faster genetic gains — such as increased yield and enhanced agronomic performance,” said Antoine Bernet, Bayer Crop Science Canada’s country division head in a news release.

“It will also accelerate breeding efforts towards superior product performance and support expanded herbicide tolerance and weed control options.”

The facility will house seed development work for canola, camelina and winter canola with a focus on trait integration, yield trial seed processing and seed quality analysis, Bayer said.

Facility design will begin this year with the goal of opening the site by the end of 2028.

Bayer said its Smartpark site in Winnipeg will continue to house early breeding work for canola while its Carman, Man., site will serve as a multi-crop nursery field operation.

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Leading up to that day, media outlets reported “workforce adjustment” notices coming for multiple departments, with AAFC among them. When, and how many jobs lost for agriculture? The closest thing to an answer I could find the night before appeared to be a letter to AAFC staff from the department’s deputy minister, copied and posted to Reddit by a third party on the CanadaPublicServants subreddit.

There was no reason to doubt its accuracy, but the idea of relying on Reddit as a sole sources makes any good journalist squirm. Fortunately, our national affairs reporter, Jonah Grignon, was able to get confirmation from an AAFC source on Jan. 22 that the letter was correct: about 665 positions were to be cut, with notifications going out to affected employees that day.

Later the same day, though, we began seeing more posts from third parties on social media, this time that federal research farms and facilities would be closing. From the federal government itself though? We got only crickets.

Most of our staff were still out Jan. 23 confirming where job cuts and facility closures are to happen at all.

A single federal press release or public statement up front would have made our jobs way easier and freed up time to ask the deeper questions: how will these cuts affect farmer-facing services and research?

More to the point, it would have given some much-needed certainty rather than abdicating the conversation to spiral into speculation and rumour.

This isn’t necessarily to suggest there shouldn’t have been spending cuts. After the last federal budget rolled in November, we all knew there would be cuts — just not the where, when or how.

Nor is it to suggest federal officials had nothing else important to do. That week in the news included the prime minister’s remarkably consequential speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the cabinet retreat in Quebec right afterward, ahead of the House of Commons coming back Jan. 26 from adjournment.

But Canada’s government is a big organization and can do more than one thing at a time. On Jan. 22 alone, it publicly announced a funding extension for the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program, funding for subway train manufacturing in Quebec, a new Competition Bureau report on businesses’ use of “algorithmic pricing,” seizures of contraband at the federal penitentiary in Kingston and that a National Film Board-funded short film is up for an Oscar.

My point is, the Liberal budget firmly declared a dual agenda of building a more versatile Canadian economy while “spending less to invest more” and pursuing responsibility through this “comprehensive expenditure review.”

Yet when workforce adjustment and closure notices went out nationwide, affecting thousands of workers’ lives and communities, the government chose not to get out in front of its cuts at all — even if just to try and keep control of its own messaging.

The government’s budget trumpeted its commitment to fiscal responsibility by cutting $60 billion in spending over the next five years. It’s not to much to ask that, once a course of action is set, the Liberals at least try to own their own decisions.

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