Cereal Research Centre

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, Canada experienced several outbreaks of stem rust Puccinia graminis, particularly on wheat, the nation's staple agricultural product.

In response to these outbreaks, in 1925 the Government of Canada established the Dominion Rust Research Laboratory at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.{{sfn|Arnason|2008}} William Richard Motherwell, the Minister of Agriculture, invited Margaret Newton to help manage the newly opened laboratory.{{sfn|Arnason|2008}}{{sfn|University of Saskatchewan Archives|1969}} She accepted and was appointed the laboratory's senior plant pathologist, a position she maintained until retirement.{{sfn|Royal Society of Canada}}

Newton established an annual stem rust survey for Western Canada,{{sfn|Canadian Phytopathological Society|2004|p=18}}{{sfn|Canadian Phytopathological Society|2008|p=66}} discovering a diversity of races in rust populations,{{sfn|Manitoba Historical Society}} which eventually enabled her to discover and catalogue the wheat species and cross-species resistant to stem rust.{{sfn|Royal Society of Canada}}

File:Wheat scab.jpgs to identify fusarium ear blight, symptoms of which appear on the wheat head on the right.]]

The research centre was part of a national research network operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.{{sfn|Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada|2009}}

Among the research activities performed at the centre were studies on breeding of oat and wheat, quality improvements on cereal grain stocks, and disease and pest resistance.{{sfn|CBC News|2012}} Its scope consisted of cereal development including the identification of genes having economic value, registration of varieties, and prediction and mitigation of pests during storage and processing.{{sfn|Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada|2009}} This led to the production of "high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties that are well-adapted to Canadian prairie growing conditions".{{sfn|Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada|2009}}

Testing of varieties was conducted at the Morden Research Station in Morden and at a research field in Glenlea.{{sfn|Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada|2009}}

Among the varieties released by the research centre during its lifetime were two barley, 14 field pea, 17 flax, 22 oat, and 27 wheat, as well as 53 fruit tree varieties and 123 ornamental plant varieties.{{sfn|Industry Canada|2007}} About 50% of all wheat and oat sown in Canada are varieties developed at the Cereal Research Centre, representing about $2.5 billion of harvestable cereal commodities.{{sfn|Industry Canada|2007}}

The centre developed novel methods for pest control, such as using pea proteins to deter insect infestations in stored grains, and identification of genetic markers, such as that for fusarium ear blight.{{sfn|Industry Canada|2007}}

In a pre-budget consultation brief submitted to the Standing Committee on Finance of the House of Commons on 12 August 2011, the University of Manitoba requested the establishment of the Canadian Cereal Research Innovation Laboratory to replace the Cereal Research Centre and other federal grain laboratories that were outdated, in need of replacement, and lacking adequate space, and recommended the closure of the Cereal Research Centre.{{sfn|University of Manitoba|2011}}

During the speech for the 2012 federal budget on 29 March 2012 to the House of Commons, Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty stated that 19,200 federal public service jobs would be eliminated.{{sfn|Carlson|2012}} In April 2012, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced that approximately 100 of those jobs would be cut by closing the Cereal Research Centre.{{sfn|CBC News|2012}} In May 2012, the government announced that wheat genetics, pathology and genomics research work originally based at this facility would be transferred to the research centre in Morden, Manitoba, which had been upgraded as a result of funding in the 2009 federal budget.{{sfn|Stelmach|2012}} Other research activities were transferred to a research centre in Brandon, Manitoba.{{sfn|Stelmach|2012}} Of the 104 affected employees, 41 had their employment terminated, 57 were transferred to Morden, and 6 were transferred to Brandon.{{sfn|Heppner|2012}}

The research centre was closed in April 2014 upon completion of its final contract.{{sfn|Rabson|2012}} As a result, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada stated that it would no longer 'finish' variety development.{{sfn|Heppner|2012}}

• Canadian government scientific research organizations

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite news|url=http://www.producer.com/2008/08/rust-scientist-remembered-for-pioneering-work/|title=Rust scientist remembered for pioneering work|last=Arnason|first=Robert|work=The Western Producer|date=14 August 2008|access-date=7 January 2015}}
• {{cite news|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/29/budget-2012-federal-canada/|title=Federal budget kills the penny, cuts CBC spending|last=Carlson|first=Kathryn Blaze|work=National Post|date=29 March 2012|access-date=7 January 2015}}
• {{cite news|url=http://www.portageonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26627&Itemid=35|title=Scientist Speaks Out About Cereal Research Centre Closure|last=Heppner|first=Kevin|publisher=Golden West Broadcasting|date=18 April 2012|access-date=23 January 2015}}
• {{cite news|url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cereal-research-centre-at-u-of-m-to-be-mothballed-147121225.html|title=Cereal Research Centre at U of M to be mothballed|last=Rabson|first=Mia|newspaper=Winnipeg Free Press|date=12 April 2012|access-date=23 January 2015}}
• {{cite news|url=http://www.pembinatoday.ca/2012/04/30/morden-research-station-lands-more-jobs|title=Morden research station lands more jobs|last=Stelmach|first=Lorne|newspaper=The Morden Times|publisher=Pembina Group|date=1 May 2012|access-date=7 January 2015}}
• {{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/cereal-research-centre-to-close-amid-federal-cuts-1.1146550|title=Cereal Research Centre to close amid federal cuts|publisher=CBC News|date=11 April 2012|access-date=7 January 2015|ref={{harvid|CBC News|2012}} }}
• {{cite journal|journal=CPS News|url=http://phytopath.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/news_v48-1.pdf|title=Margaret Newton|publisher=Canadian Phytopathological Society|volume=48|issue=1|date=March 2004|access-date=7 January 2015|ref={{harvid|Canadian Phytopathological Society|2004}} }}
• {{cite journal|journal=CPS News|url=http://phytopath.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/news_v52-4.pdf|title=Induction of Margaret Newton, Ph.D., into the Manitoba Agricultural Society Hall of Fame|publisher=Canadian Phytopathological Society|volume=52|issue=4|date=December 2008|access-date=7 January 2015|ref={{harvid|Canadian Phytopathological Society|2008}} }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/srch/nvgt.do?lang=eng&prtl=1&estblmntNo=234567002809&profile=cmpltPrfl&profileId=1921&app=sold|title=Cereal Research Centre|work=Canadian Company Capabilities|publisher=Industry Canada|date=20 December 2007|access-date=23 January 2015|ref={{harvid|Industry Canada|2007}} }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/newton_m.shtml |title=Margaret Newton Monument (University of Manitoba) |work=Historic Sites of Manitoba|publisher=The Manitoba Historical Society|access-date=7 January 2015|ref={{harvid|Manitoba Historical Society}} }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/PD-NP/Laboratories-Laboratoires/AAFC-AAC_eng.asp|title=Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada|publisher=Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada|date=6 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806230941/http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/PD-NP/Laboratories-Laboratoires/AAFC-AAC_eng.asp |archive-date=6 August 2014|access-date=7 January 2009|ref={{harvid|Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada|2009}} }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.rsc.ca/index.php?page=citations_flavelle&lang_id=1&page_id=159#TOC38 |work=Flavelle Medal Award |title=1948 – Margaret Newton, FRSC |publisher=Royal Society of Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013102918/http://www.rsc.ca/index.php?page=citations_flavelle&lang_id=1&page_id=159#TOC38 |archive-date=13 October 2007 |ref={{harvid|Royal Society of Canada}} |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web|title=University of Manitoba: Contributing to Canada's Future |publisher=Parliament of Canada |date=12 August 2011 |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/HOC/Committee/411/FINA/WebDoc/WD5138047/411_FINA_PBC2011_Briefs%5CUniversity%20of%20Manitoba%20E.pdf |access-date=7 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703075829/http://parl.gc.ca/Content/HOC/Committee/411/FINA/WebDoc/WD5138047/411_FINA_PBC2011_Briefs/University%20of%20Manitoba%20E.pdf |archive-date=2013-07-03|ref={{harvid|University of Manitoba|2011}} }}
• {{cite web|title=Margaret Newton, M.S.A., Ph.D. |url=https://www.usask.ca/archives/history/hondegrees.php?id=189&view=detail |work=Honorary degree recipients|publisher=University of Saskatchewan|access-date=7 January 2015|ref={{harvid|University of Saskatchewan Archives|1969}}|archive-date=13 September 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050913024503/http://www.usask.ca/archives/history/hondegrees.php?id=189&view=detail|url-status=dead}}

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Category:Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Category:University of Manitoba

Category:Research institutes established in 1925

Category:Organizations disestablished in 2014

Category:Research institutes in Manitoba

Category:Defunct organizations based in Canada

Category:1925 establishments in Manitoba

Category:2014 disestablishments in Manitoba

Category:Federal government buildings in Manitoba