UCalgary research on canola could help save farmers time and money

Calgary, AB – An agricultural science team at the University of Calgary has discovered several new approaches to create shatter-tolerant canola crops. 

The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could help farmers save both time and money. 

“One of the cash crops in Canada is canola. It is a pride of Canada and the annual input to the economy is about $44 billion. One of the things farmers struggle with is pod shattering.”  

Dr. Marcus Samuel, PhD, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. 

Samuel explains that farmers want the plant to be nice and dry when they go to harvest the seeds at the end of the growing season. The seeds, though, are inside a little pod that can shatter during the cutting process.  

The paper notes that pod shattering can lead to an average seed loss of three per cent — a $1.3 billion hit to the economy — to as much as 50 per cent under harsh weather conditions. 

The UCalgary team developed a new technology to achieve shatter tolerance as part of their research after finding a protein that strengthens the pod just the right amount. 

Two former PhD students who co-authored the paper now run a company called AgGene, which is a plant biotechnology startup. 

“Certainly with our company we are working on traits like pod shattering — and hopefully we can bring this to a farmer’s field one day.” 

Dr. Logan Skori, PhD, CEO of AgGene. 

 UCalgary is a top startup creator, building 90-plus companies in the last five years, more than any other Canadian university. It’s also a national leader in key areas of agricultural science research, including plant genomics to increase crop yield and drought tolerance for canola, peas, wheat and other crops. 

Photos available on request. 

Media inquiries 

Colette Derworiz 
Lead, Media and Communications, Faculty of Science  
403-815-1556 
colette.derworiz@ucalgary.ca 

About the University of Calgary 
The University of Calgary is Canada’s entrepreneurial university in this country’s most enterprising city. The youngest top five research university in Canada, UCalgary is a leader in startup creation and research innovation. With groundbreaking discoveries in child health, quantum computing and water sustainability, we’re transforming bold ideas into real-world impact. Curious and determined, our 38,000 students are using hands-on learning to forge bright futures for all. Ready to take the leap? Start something at UCalgary.

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