Recent Funding Success

Please visit the University of Saskatchewan's new searchable and filterable

Research Funding Success database for a complete list of all current AgBio projects.

GRANTS

NSERC Discovery Grants

• Yongfeng Ai (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) was awarded $115,000 for five years for Influence of molecular structures and interactions on the functional properties and digestibility of starch in the extrusion of starch blends and starch-food gum blends.
• Angela Bedard-Haughn (Soil Science) was awarded $160,000 for five years for Hydric soils of the prairie pothole region: Optimizing ecosystem services in complex agroecosystems.
• Daniel Columbus (Animal and Poultry Science) was awarded $130,000 for five years for Regulation of nitrogen salvage in non-ruminants.
• Bing Si (Soil Science) was awarded $160,000 for five years for Ecohydrology of deep soil in water-limited environments.
• Katherine Stewart (Soil Science) was awarded $115,000 for five years for The development and function of subarctic alpine soil surface biological communities.
• Vladimir Vujanovic (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) was awarded $120,000 for five years for Study of fungi with endophytic and mycoparasitic lifestyles for their multiple effects on host traits.
• Fran Walley (Soil Science) was awarded $135,000 for five years for Microscale controls on soil organic matter stabilization and impacts on nitrogen cycling in Canadian prairie agroecosystems.

GRANTS

Mitacs Accelerate

• Eric Lamb (Plant Sciences) and Ryan Brook (Animal and Poultry Science), with interns Hannah Hilger and Dale Gross awarded $90,000 for Grazing patterns vs. cattle in response to management strategies designed to improve habitat for species at risk, in partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

GRANTS

NSERC College-University Idea to Innovation (I2I)

• Derek Peak (Soil Science) and Steven Siciliano (Soil Science/Toxicology) awarded $750,000 for Optimizing hydrochars as a hydrocarbon remediation amendment, in partnership with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), Federated Co-operatives Ltd, and UFA Co-operative Limited.

Polar Knowledge Canada

CONTRACTS

 SK Ministry of Agriculture - Agriculture Development Fund (ADF)

• Yongfeng Ai (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) with co-investigator Phyllis Shand (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) awarded approx. $299,000 for Enzymatic hydrolysis of pulse starches to produce maltodextrins and sweeteners for food use.
• Yongfeng Ai (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) with co-investigator Supratim Ghosh (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), awarded $193,500 for Development of resistant starch and emulsifiers from pulse starches for food applications.
• Denise Beaulieu (Animal and Poultry Science) awarded $241,000 for Mitigating Saskatchewan GHG emissions by modifying swine diets.
• Bill Biligetu (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) with Bruce Coulman (Plant Sciences), Eric Lamb (Plant Sciences), and Bart Lardner (Animal and Poultry Science) awarded $124,000 for Development of NIR database and prediction equations for use in forage breeding, agronomy, and rangeland research.
• Bill Biligetu (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) with Bruce Coulman (Plant Sciences) awarded over $85,000 for Selection of clonal propagated alfalfa and sainfoin plants under grass or legume
  competition.
• Helen Booker (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) with Randy Kutcher (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $119,000 for Characterization of rust resistance genes of flax.
• Helen Booker (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $52,000 for Characterization of flax breeding lines for Northern adaptation and stability of yield and maturity.
• Ravindra Chibbar (Plant Sciences) with Pierre Hucl (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $170,800 for Comparing wheat allergenicity in ancient and modern wheats.
• Terry Fonstad (Civil and Geological Engineering), with co-principal investigators Richard Farrell (Soil Science), Diane Knight (Soil Science), Jeff Schoenau (Soil Science), and Huiqing Guo (Mechanical Engineering) awarded $418,000 for Research opportunities presented by the beef cattle research and teaching unit.
• Supratim Ghosh (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) with Mike Nickerson (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) awarded $95,000 for Development of novel healthier plant-based shortening alternative without the presence of saturated and trans fats; Saskatchewan Pulse Growers also provided an additional $115,000 for this project, for a total funding amount of $210,000.
• Pierre Hucl (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $148,500 for Breeding spring spelt and emmer wheat for reduced lodging.
• Pierre Hucl (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) with co-investigator Randy Kutcher awarded $112,000 for Characterizing canary seed germplasm for Fusarium Blight and enhanced herbicide tolerance.
• Pierre Hucl (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) with co-investigator Curtis Pozniak (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $71,000 for Assessment and deployment of a new dwarfing gene in red spring wheat.
• Darren Korber (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), with co-investigators Takuji Tanaka (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), Mike Nickerson (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), and Janitha Wanasundara (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) awarded $100,500 for Optimization of fermentation platforms (batch vs solid-state) for improving the value of pulse (pea and fava bean) fractions.
• John McKinnon (Animal and Poultry Science) awarded $300,500 for The economics of forage-based backgrounding programs in conventional and non-conventional beef production systems.
• Rex Newkirk (Animal and Poultry Science) awarded $49,000 for Enhancing the nutritional value of byproducts through steam explosion.
• Greg Penner (Animal and Poultry Science), with co-investigator John McKinnon (Animal and Poultry Science) awarded $165,000 for Optimizing ruminal fermentation using silage and cereal grain inclusion strategies for backgrounding and finishing steers.
• Martin Reaney (Plant Sciences), with co-investigators Ajay Dalai (Chemical and Biological Engineering) and Ken Van Rees (Soil Science) awarded $225,750 for Industrial products from vegetable oils.
• Jeff Schoenau (Soil Science) awarded $44,450 for Tolerance of pulse crops to seed placed nitrogen fertilizer.
• Steve Shirtliffe (Plant Sciences), with co-investigators Thomas Warkentin (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences), and Sabine Banniza (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $53,000 for Developing field pea varietal blends for higher yields and pest suppression.
• Steve Shirtliffe (Plant Sciences) awarded $58,000 for In-crop weed clipping for weed control.
• Takuji Tanaka (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), with co-investigators Darren Korber (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), Janitha Wanasundara (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), Mike Nickerson (Food and Bioproduct Sciences), and Yongfeng Ai (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) awarded $162,000 for Enzymatic treatment of chickpea flour and air-classified fractions to improve their functionality for ingredient line extensions.
• Karen Tanino (Plant Sciences), with co-investigators Yuguang Bai (Plant Sciences), Pierre Hucl (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences), Steve Shirtliffe (Plant Sciences), and Bernard Laarveld (Animal and Poultry Science) awarded $278,000 for Field evaluation of one seed treatment inducing multiple agronomic responses from emergence to yield.
• Karen Tanino (Plant Sciences), with co-investigators Curtis Pozniak (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) and Scott Noble (Mechanical Engineering) awarded $197,000 for Development of physiological markers for high throughput field screening of drought tolerant wheat lines.
• Bunyamin Tar’an (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $150,000 for Genetic analysis of flowering genes and their associated effects on agronomic performance and stress tolerance in chickpea.
• Vladimir Vujanovic (Food and Bioproduct Sciences) awarded $273,000 for Industrial production of beneficial plant endosymbionts for seed treatment and improved canola, soybean and pea.

Saskatchewan Pulse Crop Development Board

• Bunyamin Tar’an (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded almost $922,000 for 50K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) chip development for genomic-enabling chickpea breeding.
• Bunyamin Tar’an (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $318,000 for Development of metribuzin tolerant chickpea: proof of concept validation of CRISPR based gene editing tools in chickpea.
• Bunyamin Tar’an (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) with co-principal investigator Albert Vandenberg (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $675,000 for Development of adapted high yielding faba bean for Saskatchewan.
• Bunyamin Tar’an (Crop Development Centre/Plant Sciences) awarded $172,000 for Genetic analysis of flowering genes and their associated effects on agronomic performance and stress tolerance in chickpea.
• Diane Knight (Soil Science) awarded $205,000 for Canola grown before a pulse crop: is biological nitrogen fixation affected?

Western Grains Research Foundation

GRANTS

MITACS Accelerate

• Katherine Stewart (Soil Science) and intern Chelsea Voinorosky were awarded $30,000 for Developing strategies for informed collaborative decision making for vegetation management on northern Rights-of-Way, in partnership with SaskPower.

 NSERC Engage

• Mary Buhr (Animal and Poultry Science) was awarded $25,000 for Identifying fertility markers in boars, in partnership with Topigs Norsvin.

CONTRACTS

 Western Grains Research Foundation

• Curtis Pozniak (Plant Sciences/Crop Development Centre) has received $500,000 for Ten Wheat Genomes.

Genome Prairie

• Diane Knight (Soil Science) has been awarded $146,000 for the project Enhancing the long-term sustainability of pulse cultivation using system approaches.

Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission

• Ravindra Chibbar (Plant Sciences) has received over $196,000 for Characterize new sources of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) resistance and introgress it into Saskatchewan elite wheat cultivars.

GRANTS

NSERC Strategic Partnership Grants

• Angela Bedard-Haughn (Soil Science), U of S co-investigators Melissa Arcand (Soil Science) and Ken Belcher (Agricultural and Resource Economics), Joan Knight (Soil Science), Colin Laroque (Soil Science), Derek Peak (Soil Science), Katherine Stewart (Soil Science), and Fran Walley (Soil Science) have been awarded $852,036 for the project Understanding Resilience in Agroecosystems: Landscapes in Transition, in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Swift Current Research and Development Centre, which provided in-kind contributions to this project.

Saskatchewan Egg Producers 

• Henry Classen (Animal and Poultry Science) has been awarded $15,000 for Determining the impact of gizzard size on feed efficiency, gut health, and the incidence of focal duodenal necrosis (FDN).

CONTRACTS

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

• Diane Knight (Soil Science), with U of S co-principal investigator Herbert Lardner (Animal and Poultry Science) and co-investigators Richard Farrell (Soil Science), Jeff Schoenau (Soil Science), Melissa Arcand (Soil Science), and Katherine Stewart (Soil Science), have received $1.8M for the project Strategies for improving nutritional value of grazed forages: impact on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration.
• Diane Knight (Soil Science) has also been awarded $146,000 for the project Enhancing the long-term sustainability of pulse cultivation using system approaches.
• Colin Laroque (Soil Science), with U of S coinvestigators Ken Van Rees (Soil Science), Suren Kulshreshtha (Agricultural and Resource Economics), Ken Belcher (Agricultural and Resource Economics), has received $1.44M for Development of a Management Support Toolbox for Carbon Sequestration Strategies Using Agroforestry Shelterbelt Systems in Saskatchewan.

FP Genetics

• Aaron Beattie (Crop Development Centre) has received $350,000 for Oat Research and Development Project Agreement.

GRANTS

MITACS Accelerate

• Andrew Van Kessel (Animal and Poultry Science) with intern Michael Wellington was awarded $120,000 for Impact of dietary fibre and immune challenge on threonine requirements and pig robustness, in partnership with Prairie Swine Centre Inc.
• John McKinnon (Animal and Poultry Science) with intern Katelyn Stehr were awarded $30,000 for Alkaline treated straw and micro machine technology to improve digestive health and profitability of feedlot cattle, in partnership with Gowans Feed Consulting.

President's SSHRC Insight Grant

• Tristan Skolrud (Agricultural and Resource Economics) was awarded $7,000 for Factors influencing organic adoptions in Canadian agriculture.

NEW INITIATIVES

• U of S team helps develop tool to assess environmental risks of chemicals. A U of S Toxicology Centre research team led by Markus Hecker (SENS) in collaboration with Natacha Hogan (Animal and Poultry Science) will work with scientists from McGill University and Environment and Climate Change Canada on a $9.6-million project to develop and commercialize EcoToxChip, a new genomics tool for assessing the risk of thousands of chemicals in the environment. Based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tools, EcoToxChip will contain more than 300 genes representing key biological functions that will enable rapid and economic prediction of the hazard a particular chemical poses. The tool represents potential annual savings of $27 million in conducting environmental risk assessments in Canada, a seven-fold decrease in the time required, and 90-per-cent reduction in testing in animals. U of S will receive $3.8 million from various agencies including Genome Canada, Genome Quebec and Genome Prairie. The technology can also be applied to testing chemicals for regulatory agencies, industry, and in everyday life applications such as pharmaceuticals or personal care products. For more information about EcoToxChip, read here.

GRANTS

MITACS Accelerate

• Jill Hobbs (Agricultural and Resource Economics) was awarded $15,000 one-year MITACS Accelerate funding for the project Adoption of new malt barley varieties by malt barley exporters.

 Prince Albert Model Forest Association Inc.

• Ryan Brook (Animal and Poultry Science) was awarded $41,000 in one-year funding from Prince Albert Model Forest Association Inc. for the project Engaging Northern Saskatchewan Communities in Learning & Sharing about Woodland Caribou 2016-2017.

Saskatchewan Centre of Excellence for Transportation and Infrastructure

• James Nolan (Agricultural and Resource Economics) was awarded $31,250 for the project Evaluating the economics of the Maximum Revenue Entitlement (MRE), 160 km inter-switching distances and other competitive rail scenarios.

CONTRACTS

• Curtis Pozniak (Crop Development Centre) has received an additional $540,000 from Genome Prairie for the project Canadian Triticum Applied Genomics (CTAG2). Total funding for the four-year project is now $2.24 million.

• Thomas Warkentin (Crop Development Centre) has received $174,920 over five years from Scoular Canada Ltd. for the project Marrowfat Pea Breeding Agreement 2016-2021.