Michael Beck sets a bean plant on the turntable of the photogrammetry rig in his lab at the University of Winnipeg on Feb. 3, 2026. Photo: Geralyn Wichers

3D imaging takes guesswork out of wheat research

Winnipeg’s TerraByte Labs photogrammetry tool opens door to lower-cost, precise plant characteristic insights for faster crop breeding

A Winnipeg-based lab is refining a tool that can create 3D renderings of wheat plants and give precise structural measurements for faster crop breeding.

Dry beans are held out on the palm of a person's hand with growing dry bean plants in the background. Photo: Juan Osorno

Dry bean breeding has paid off for farmers

Experts say they’ve seen the payoff in yield and farmer profit as better dry bean varieties have hit the scene in Manitoba and surrounding regions

Experts say they’ve seen the payoff in yield and farmer profit as better dry bean varieties have hit the scene in Manitoba and surrounding regions.






Photo: Thinkstock

Funding to help make cattle data gathering easier

Partnership between Angus and Holstein association will look at sharing trait information and how to automate data management

New funding for the Canadian Angus Association and Holstein Canada will allow them to improve the data that goes into genetic evaluations and expand into new areas including carcass quality and traits that help limit the environmental impact of beef.


Although CRISPR was developed 10 years ago, global events, including the pandemic, changed public attitudes toward technical advances.

The road to acceptance for gene editing

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology offers recommendations to ensure plant breeding tech continues to benefit agriculture

Glacier FarmMedia – The rapid pace of change brought by genome editing tools has created many new opportunities for the agri-food industry, but they aren’t without challenges. Regulatory hurdles must be considered, and the tools must benefit society as well as the agriculture industry. That was the focus of a recent paper and webinar by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, which discussed the application

Rob Duncan, a canola breeder at the University of Manitoba, used genomic selection to design these canola plants. Breeders can select desired traits from across the entire canola genome.

Genome selection helps find next superstars

Sequencing the canola genome in 2014 paved the way for researchers to be more precise when developing new varieties

Glacier FarmMedia – In the 2020 Western Hockey League bantam draft, the Regina Pats had the first overall pick. They selected Connor Bedard. It was an easy pick and a good one. Bedard recorded 100 points in the 2021-22 WHL season and 143 points last year. In June, the Chicago Blackhawks selected Bedard with the


Under rainy skies on July 18, 2023 at Ag in Motion, Justine Cornelsen of Brett Young Seeds discusses soybeans’ evolving Canadian acreage base. (Glacier FarmMedia video screengrab)

At Ag in Motion: Soybean proponents still eye western expansion

Crop seen as a good add to rotations -- if conditions are right

While canola is king of the Canadian oilseed market, the same can be said of soybeans in the United States. However, the big pulse crop south of the border has made inroads in the western provinces. Manitoba has seen the biggest growth in soybean acres with well over a million planted annually in recent years,

File photo of a CFIA vehicle. (Dave Bedard photo)

Gene-edited crops clear CFIA’s regulatory bar

Agency guidance puts gene editing on level of conventional breeding

Plants gene-edited for efficient use of water or nutrients or to better withstand pests or drought now won’t have to clear the same regulatory hurdles in Canada as any crops that are modified for herbicide tolerance or include foreign genes. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Wednesday announced updated guidance from the Canadian Food Inspection