Story:Government is usually more efficient at patting themselves on the back for spending our money than they are at determining the best places to actually invest those dollars.
Build a chunk of highway, or pay for a bridge, or invest some dollars in a hospital or school, and there will be a press release sent out, if not a full fledged press conference to reaffirm the investment previously outlined in a budget somewhere.
Once the project is complete there is an obligatory ribbon cutting, which is simply a media photo opportunity, and at times is actually rather ridiculous, like the realignment of a stretch of highway. Yes it has happened, I was there wearing the required safety helmet which would no doubt have been important had the semi that breezed past during the ribbon cutting had hit us.
In most cases it's government, regardless of political stripe, getting some publicity for doing their job.
There are however times government does need a pat on the back for doing some things which while the right thing, may not be expected.
Recently federal MPs and the Saskatchewan government joined together for an announcement which went under a lot of people's radars, although it was an investment which could be vital to agriculture and to keeping the world fed.
The two levels announced more than $5.6 million in research funding which is targeted at developing new wheat varieties for Canadian farmers.The Government of Saskatchewan is providing $1.5 million through its Agriculture Development Fund.
"The Government of Canada is investing in science and research to create jobs, economic growth and improve the quality of life of Canadians,"Saskatoon-HumboldtMP Brad Trost said in a release. "These investments will help farmers and others in the agricultural industry by increasing the diversity of high quality wheat produced in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner."
The money is being invested in aproject managed by Genome Prairie and is part of the $8.5 million Canadian Triticum Advancement through Genomics (CTAG) project. It will also represent Canada's contribution to the new international sequencing effort led by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWSWG).
Farmers are becoming keenly aware that mapping crop genomes are becoming critical in terms of future crop development.
It is an area the Prairie Oat Growers Association is investing producer dollars for that crop. Of course wheat has the potential to have a greater impact since wheat is a far more significant crop than oats.
"Wheat is a staple food crop contributing approximately $4 billion annually to the Canadian agriculture industry," detailed a backgrounder on theCanadianTriticumAdvancement through Genomics (CTAG) Project. "Wheat production comprised more than 20 per cent of Canadian farm crop income during 2005-2009 (Statistics Canada 2010) and a total value of approximately $11 billion when value-added food processing is considered."
The three-year $8.5 million CTAG project aims to enable geneticists and breeders to characterize the genes at the most fundamental level: the DNA sequence. As is the case with a plant seed, including the aforementioned oats, sequencing wheat DNA may hold the key to genetic improvements.
Any varietal improvements should ultimately help farmers meet the increasing demands food. In the announcement releaseWestern Canadian Wheat Growers Saskatchewan Vice-President Geoffrey Hewson said, "Research is vital to the growth of our industry. This project will lead to new and improved wheat varieties that will benefit producers for years to come."
Hewson is right in assessing the importance of research to industry growth, and public investment through our governments is a critical aspect of funding the required work.
The recent announcement is one where government has reaffirmed the need for taxpayer dollars in supporting future food production, and they need to be congratulated for making the wise investment of our dollars.
