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Jennifer Mitchell Fetch

{{short description|Canadian Agronomist}}

Jennifer Mitchell Fetch is a Canadian research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) with expertise in oat breeding. She is known for running the only organic oat breeding program in Canada and helping with the development of several oat milling quality cultivars, including the first organically developed cultivar, AAC Oravena.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Jennifer Mitchell Fetch – Honorary Life Award Recipient 2020|url=https://seedgrowers.ca/jennifer-mitchell-fetch-honorary-life-award-recipient-2020/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Canadian Seed Growers' Association}}{{Cite web|last=Cross|first=Brian|date=|title=Ag Canada hires new oat breeder in Brandon|url=https://www.producer.com/news/ag-canada-hires-new-oat-breeder-in-brandon/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=The Western Producer}} Canada is the largest exporter of oats in the world, emphasizing the importance of developing new and improved cultivars for farmers. Canada is responsible for producing approximately 3 million tonnes of quality oats every year, with 90% being from Western Canada, where Mitchell Fetch focused her research and was the only Agriculture Canada oat breeder for years.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=Aug 27, 2019|title=Government of Canada invests nearly $2 million in oat cultivar development|url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-invests-nearly-2-million-in-oat-cultivar-development-845031267.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=CISION}} Mitchell Fetch was employed by AAFC in 1998 and spent 22 years as an oat breeder before her retirement in 2020.

Biography

Jennifer Mitchell Fetch grew up in southwestern Saskatchewan, mostly in Swift Current. Her family had many ties to farming as her father was raised on a farm, and she had several family members that farmed for a living.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE RESEARCH- A Conversation with Dr. Jennifer Mitchell Fetch|url=https://www.dal.ca/faculty/agriculture/oacc/en-home/organic-science-cluster/OSCII/theme-a/activity-a2/interview-mitchell-fetch-2015.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Dalhousie University}} Her father's love for farming provided her with a strong interest in agriculture from a young age.

Starting in 1975, during her University years, Mitchell Fetch worked as a summer student at AAFC's Swift Current Research Centre in its wheat and forage breeding programs. This position fueled her passion for plant breeding as a young adult.{{Cite web|last=Boudreau|first=Nicole|date=Aug 2012|title=Did you have oatmeal for breakfast this morning? Perhaps you ate an oat variety crafted by Jennifer Mitchell Fetch.|url=http://magazine.cog.ca/article/crafting-organic-oats/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=The Canadian Organic Grower}} She attended the University of Saskatchewan, where she completed her B.Sc in crop science in 1979, followed by her M.Sc in 1981.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=2018 American Oat Workers Conference- Award for Distinguished Service to Oat Improvement|url=https://oatnews.org/oatnews_pdfs/oatfame/HofF_DSOI_Mitchell_Fetch.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}} After spending some time as a triticale breeder with the University of Manitoba, she started her Ph.D. in flax breeding at North Dakota State University (NDSU), which was completed in 1989. Her thesis explored the combination of high producing oil flax with high yielding straw flax to get a hybrid integrating the best features of both flax lines.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Maybe you ate an oat variety crafted by Jennifer Mitchell Fetch|url=https://www.organicfederation.ca/sites/documents/jennifer_mitchell_final.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}

During her time at NDSU, she met Tom Fetch, another AAFC scientist and stem rust pathologist, and they married in 1985. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys traveling, reading, doing various crafts, being involved in her church community, curling with her husband, and watching the Bombers and the Winnipeg Jets.

Career

In spring 1988, Mitchell Fetch worked with a private company as a canola breeder before completing her Ph.D. and continued there until December 1989. She then worked several technical positions at NDSU until she was offered an oat breeding position in 1998 with the Prairie Oat Breeding Consortium at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg. More recently, the breeding program was relocated from the Research Centre in Winnipeg to the Research Centre in Brandon, Manitoba where she spent the remainder of her career.

The Prairie Oat Breeding Consortium is a Government-Industry partnership funded program aiming to develop superior quality cultivars for the western Prairies. Western Canada is responsible for about 90% of Canada's oat production. The focus of Mitchell Fetch's research was to develop cultivars with improved agronomic, disease, and quality traits through collaboration with pathologists, quality chemists, molecular scientists, and agronomists. The production of oats is important, as Canada is the largest oat exporter in the world, and it's a cooler season crop that suits Canada's climate. Mitchell Fetch has been involved in the development of 12 oat cultivars in Western Canada and several in Eastern Canada. The oat cultivars include the first organically developed cultivar in Canada, AAC Oravena, followed by AAC Kongsore. Mitchell Fetch ran the only organic breeding oat program in all of Canada. Plant breeders typically select cultivars for performance in different regions and soil types, so selecting based on production systems, like organic, is relatively new.{{Cite web|last=Rance|first=Laura|date=April 5, 2018|title=New organic oat varieties in the pipeline|url=https://organicbiz.ca/new-organic-oat-varieties-pipeline/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Organic Biz}} The organic community has been beneficial to her research by calling attention to important traits for their production systems.

Mitchell Fetch has been an effective research collaborator and generous with her time and resources. She was involved in breeding other crops such as several wheat cultivars and provided germplasm, expertise, and enthusiasm to projects in oat genomics. Mitchell Fetch has collaborated with researchers around the world, serving as the chair of the awards committee for the American Oat Workers and helping raise funds for their conferences. She was an associate editor for the Canadian Journal of Plant Science and served as secretary of the Breeding and Agronomy Evaluation Team of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oats and Barley. Mitchell Fetch has also mentored new scientists in the practical aspects of plant breeding.

The oat and wheat cultivars that Mitchell Fetch helped develop include:

  • Lee Williams Hulless Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 July 2009|title=Lee Williams hulless Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/CJPS08197|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=89|issue=4 |pages=665–669|doi=10.4141/CJPS08197 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • Lu Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 July 2009|title=Lu Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/CJPS08193|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=89|issue=4 |pages=671–675|doi=10.4141/CJPS08193 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}
  • Pinnacle Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 January 2003|title=Pinnacle Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/P02-017|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=83|pages=97–99|doi=10.4141/P02-017 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • AC Gwen Hulless Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 January 2003|title=AC Gwen hulless Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/P02-018|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=83|pages=93–95|doi=10.4141/P02-018 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}
  • Ronald Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 January 2003|title=Ronald Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/P02-019|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=83|pages=101–104|doi=10.4141/P02-019 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free}}
  • Furlong Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=10 October 2006|title=Furlong Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/P06-005|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=86|issue=4 |pages=1153–1156|doi=10.4141/P06-005 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • Jordan Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 January 2009|title=Jordan Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/CJPS08095|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=89|pages=67–71|doi=10.4141/CJPS08095 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • Stainless Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=2011|title=Stainless Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/CJPS10159|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=91|issue=2 |pages=357–361|doi=10.4141/CJPS10159 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}
  • Leggett Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 July 2007|title=Leggett Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/CJPS06030|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=87|issue=3 |pages=509–512|doi=10.4141/CJPS06030 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • Summit Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer|date=1 June 2011|title=Summit Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/cjps10158|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=91|issue=4 |pages=787–791|doi=10.4141/cjps10158 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • Stride Oat {{Cite journal|last=Mitchell Fetch|first=Jennifer W.|date=July 2013|title=Stride Oat|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=93|issue=4|pages=749-753|doi=10.4141/cjps2012-325|doi-access=free|via=Canadian Science Publishing }}
  • AAC Banner Oat {{Cite journal|last=Yan|first=Weikai|date=2021|title=AAC Banner Oat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/CJPS-2019-0341|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=101|issue=3 |pages=441–446|doi=10.1139/CJPS-2019-0341 |via=|url-access=subscription}}
  • AAC Jatharia Canada Western Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Kumar|first=S|date=20 March 2017|title=AAC Jatharia Canada Western Red Spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2016-0177|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=97|issue=2|pages=368–376|doi=10.1139/cjps-2016-0177|via=|doi-access=free|hdl=1807/76520|hdl-access=free}}
  • AAC Prevail Canada Western Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Kumar|first=S|date=4 December 2017|title=AAC Prevail Canada Western Red Spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2017-0193|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=|pages=|doi=10.1139/cjps-2017-0193|via=|doi-access=free|hdl=1807/87243|hdl-access=free}}
  • AAC Magnet Canada Western Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Kumar|first=S|date=26 September 2019|title=AAC Magnet Canada Western Red Spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2019-0180|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=99|issue=6|pages=988–996|doi=10.1139/cjps-2019-0180|via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free}}
  • AAC LeRoy Canada Western Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Kumar|first=S|date=26 September 2019|title=AAC LeRoy Canada Western Red Spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2019-0184|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=99|issue=6|pages=997–1005|doi=10.1139/cjps-2019-0184|via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free}}
  • AAC Crossfield Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Randhawa|first=H.S.|date=7 November 2019|title=AAC Crossfield red spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2019-0237|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=100|issue=2 |pages=239–244|doi=10.1139/cjps-2019-0237 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • AAC Warman Canada Western Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Kumar|first=S|date=14 December 2018|title=AAC Warman Canada Western Red Spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2018-0221|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=99|issue=2|pages=289–298|doi=10.1139/cjps-2018-0221|via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free|hdl=1807/94398|hdl-access=free}}
  • AAC Redstar Hard Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=James Burt|first=Andrew|date=2021|title=AAC Redstar hard red spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/CJPS-2020-0148|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=101|issue=2 |pages=274–283|doi=10.1139/CJPS-2020-0148 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free}}
  • AAC Cameron Canada Western Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Fox|first=S.L.|date=8 November 2016|title=AAC Cameron Canada western red spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2016-0011|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=|pages=1–8|doi=10.1139/cjps-2016-0011 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free}}
  • AAC Foray Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Brown|first=P.D.|date=19 March 2015|title=AAC Foray red spring wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/cjps-2015-007|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=95|issue=4 |pages=799–803|doi=10.4141/cjps-2015-007 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|url-access=subscription}}
  • AAC Tenacious Red Spring Wheat {{Cite journal|last=Brown|first=P.D.|date=19 March 2015|title=AAC Tenacious Red Spring Wheat|url=https://doi.org/10.4141/cjps-2015-011|journal=Canadian Journal of Plant Science|volume=95|issue=4 |pages=805–810|doi=10.4141/cjps-2015-011 |via=Canadian Science Publishing|doi-access=free}}

Jennifer Mitchell Fetch retired in 2020 and has expressed that upon her retirement she would like to see the cultivars she developed being grown widely, being used in many food products, and improving consumers’ health.

Awards and achievements

  • Recognized plant breeder by the Canadian Seed Growers Association (CSGA)
  • Member of the Canadian Society of Agronomy
  • Member of the American Societies of Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Honorary Life Membership Award by the Manitoba Seed Growers Association in recognition of valuable service to the seed industry in December 2014
  • Honorary Life Award by the Canadian Seed Growers Association 2020
  • Awarded for Distinguished Service to Oat Improvement by the American Oat Workers in June 2018
  • Outstanding Associate Editor Award by the Canadian Journal of Plant Science in 2018

References

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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Canadian agronomists

Category:University of Saskatchewan alumni

Category:North Dakota State University alumni

Category:People from Swift Current

Category:Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Category:21st-century Canadian scientists

Category:Women in agriculture

Category:21st-century Canadian women scientists

Category:Living people