A collaborative initiative driving agricultural productivity, competitiveness, and sustainability.
The FCC Breeding Acceleration Program at GIFS leverages our expertise and technologies to help increase the rate of genetic gain in plant and livestock breeding programs.
Expertise and Technologies at GIFS
Breeding acceleration enables researchers to shorten the breeding cycle in crop and livestock breeding programs through the application of genomic selection, speed breeding, and modelling.
GIFS has the innovative technologies and highly skilled team to make breeding acceleration accessible to diverse organizations in both the public and private sectors.
From our base in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a thriving hub of agricultural research, development, and production, we are working with partners to apply these technologies and strategies to diverse commodities and deliver market-impacting innovation to agricultural producers.
Why Breeding Acceleration?
To promote food security and feed a growing global population, the agriculture sector must maintain and increase production amidst significant challenges, including limited land, water, and nutrients, as well as threats from disease, pests, and climate change.
Breeding acceleration provides crop and livestock breeders with a comprehensive suite of tools to stay ahead of the curve and deliver innovations that are resilient and adapted to the markets and challenges of today and tomorrow.
What is Breeding Acceleration?
The FCC Breeding Acceleration Program at GIFS utilizes our proven genotyping, phenotyping, and bioinformatics expertise.
Through the following activities, we are working with partners to optimize breeding pipelines, increase the rate of genetic gain, and more rapidly bring innovations to agricultural producers that enhance performance and sustainability.
- Genotyping: High-throughput DNA sequencing via GIFS’ state-of-the-art Omics & Precision Analytics Laboratory enables the use of genotypes to predict performance through genomic selection.
- Reduced breeding cycle time: Double haploid production and speed breeding support a rapid drive to homozygosity.
- Genomic selection: GIFS’ data management and analytics capabilities generate Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBVs) to help identify top-performing lines, reduce screening, and inform optimal parental combinations.
- Optimize breeding pipelines: Utilizing computer simulations, GIFS models breeding pipelines to improve genetic gain per dollar invested.
When applied at scale, GIFS’ Breeding Acceleration Program can shorten the breeding cycle to deliver tangible results for the agriculture sector:
- Enable breeding of multiple traits to changing environments.
- Enhance the return on investment into research and development.
- Contribute to the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of farm operations.
Partners in Innovation
The FCC Breeding Acceleration Program at GIFS is supported by a $5 million investment by Farm Credit Canada. Learn more >>
Contact Us
Serving as agriculture’s innovation catalyst, GIFS is connecting the agri-food ecosystem, advancing innovation, and bridging the gap to commercialization to deliver resilient and sustainable food security for all stakeholders.
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