The man who transformed the prairie landscape By Joan Cohen
The canola designation opened up a large international market for the prairie-grown crop and the name, which joined the words Canada and oil, quickly became recognized.
S
ingle-handedly, Dr. Baldur R. Stefansson transformed the prai- rie landscape. Where wheat once
was unchallenged king across the prai- rie farmland, canola has over the past several decades become a powerful contender, with the third largest acre- age among prairie crops (last record- ed 12.4 million recorded acreage in 2006) and an annual value of billions of dollars to western Canada farmers. In this landscape, Dr. Stefansson
stands as a giant. As a young plant breeder at the University of Manitoba, Stefansson recognized that a reliable, quality, oilseed crop could be a major income-earner for Canadian farmers.
26 • Fall 2016
He set out to create a seed that could take on this role in the special growing conditions above the 60th parallel. In record time, the young scien-
tist produced from the unloved, and unsuitable rapeseed plant the “canola” seed, which became the source of the world’s top-ranked edible oil. The first canola was released to the market in 1974. Awards and citations would flow
in for the quiet, brilliant, fun-loving Manitoba native born 98 years ago at Vestfold near Lundar, Man. He received a rarely-awarded honorary doctorate of science degree from his old alma matter. The 1998 Wolf Prize
in agriculture was presented to him in Isreal by then Israeli President Ezer Weizman. The University of Manitoba cita-
tion noted: “Dr. Stefansson’s vision of what might be and his innovative thoughtful approach to reaching his goals provide much-quoted examples of what plant breeding can achieve. During his career at the university, Dr. Stefansson supervised graduate students who are now working in key positions for plant breeding companies world wide.” The Israel award, meanwhile,
honours Dr. Stefansson for his “inno- vative approach in plant breeding.”
localgardener.net
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