Dr. Steven Webb (PhD), GIFS CEO, provided stakeholders with an update on GIFS' programs and technology services at a reception at the Saskatchewan Legislature in March.
The Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has established world-class expertise and technologies to meet the needs of agri-food partners and stakeholders.
At a reception at the Saskatchewan Legislature in Regina on March 24, GIFS CEO Dr. Steven Webb (PhD) provided an update on the growth of GIFS’ programs and technology services to members of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Assembly and agri-food stakeholders.
The Honourable Daryl Harrison, Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture, and Todd Klink, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs at Farm Credit Canada (FCC), representing GIFS’ Board of Directors, also spoke at the event.
“Today, we are an innovation catalyst and a connector with world-class capabilities and we play up and down the entire innovation pipeline,” Webb told attendees.
The Government of Saskatchewan is one of GIFS’ founding partners. In 2024, it committed $15 million over five years to advance GIFS’ mission to discover, develop, and deliver innovative solutions for the production of globally sustainable food.
Through ongoing initiatives, including the development of GIFS’ Engineering Biology Platform, GIFS is establishing unique capabilities and capacities that are serving as the basis for collaborations with researchers and organizations around the world.
“Our ambition is to be the preferred partner for ag and food innovation — not just here, but globally — and we are global. We’re bringing an exciting complement of expertise and leading-edge technologies to really operate at scale,” said Webb.
“We’ve created an organization that is complementary and not competitive. We’ve created an organization that operates at scale. We think in and operate at levels of 100, 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000 at a time, optimizing resources, automation, processes, and technologies to deliver results effectively and efficiently.”
Updates and Highlights
At the reception, Webb discussed the technologies driving the FCC Accelerated Breeding Program at GIFS, which is supported by a $5 million investment from Farm Credit Canada.
Through the FCC Accelerated Breeding Program, GIFS is collaborating with plant and livestock breeders to accelerate the delivery of new agricultural commodities and genetics. The initiative leverages GIFS’ high-throughput genotyping, bioinformatics, automation, and breeding simulation capabilities to provide stakeholders with important tools to accelerate the rate of genetic gain in breeding programs and address declining agricultural productivity in Canada.
Webb also discussed the GIFS-commissioned carbon life cycle analysis of Canadian field crops. The analysis shows how innovations are driving sustainable outcomes in Canadian agricultural production.
“To me, this is a story of innovation. Innovation pioneered here (in Western Canada) and developed here with no- till and minimum till, as well as innovations through partnerships that were catalyzed … to make herbicide-tolerant canola available to our farmers,” said Webb.
“It’s a story of why we need a regulatory framework that enables innovations to come to the marketplace and it’s a story of our secret. It’s farmers. Our farmers are innovative.
“I think this is a real testimony to how good we are in terms of being able to provide the world with safe, nutritious, and sustainably produced foods.”
Left to right: Todd Klink, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs at Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and a member of GIFS’ Board of Directors, Hon. Daryl Harrison, Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture, Steven Webb, GIFS CEO, and Bill Greuel, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and a member of GIFS’ Board of Directors.