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Richard Keith Downey | |
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| Born | January 26, 1927 |
| Occupation | agricultural scientist |
Richard Keith Downey, OC SOM FRSC (born January 26, 1927) is a Canadian agricultural scientist known for plant breeding and, as one of the originators of canola. [1] He conducted his research at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and is largely responsible for transforming rapeseed into canola. [2] His pioneering research has made him known as the "Father of Canola". [1] [3]
Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, In 1951 he received a B.S.A. and in 1952 an M.Sc. from the University of Saskatchewan. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1961 and also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1994. [1] [3]
In 1951 Downey started working for Agriculture Canada initially as an alfalfa breeder in Lethbridge, becoming in 1993 a Senior Research Scientist Emeritus. [3] [4] In 1993, he started his own firm and is president of Canoglobe Consulting Inc. [3] He also worked as an adjunct professor in the University of Saskachewan College of Agriculture and Bioresources. [5]
Downey worked with Baldur Stefansson to develop a variety of rapeseed with low ratios of potentially harmful erucic acid and glucosinolates that could be used as an edible oil. [1] [6] [5] This is known as canola and is one of Canada’s top edible oils and one of the largest oilseed crops in the world. [1] [5] At the time of Downey's work to develop canola, Canada was importing 95 per cent of its edible oils, so his research was an effort to save Canada's failing rapeseed industry, which had declined from 80,000 acres in 1948 to a 400 acres by 1950. [7]
Canola crop was first grown during World War II on the prairies to make industrial oil for the war effort, used as a lubricant on steam-powered ships and trains. [1] [5] It now rivals wheat as the leading moneymaker for Saskatchewan farmers. [1] Canola now covers 20 million acres in Canada and contributes billions of dollars to the economy. [2]
Downey is the breeder and co-breeder of 13 rapeseed/canola varieties, five condiment mustard varieties, and one alfalfa variety. [1] [8] He has been breeding Brassica oilseed and mustard crops for more than 50 years. [9] His oilseed improvement expertise has been shared around the world with missions to Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Chile, Argentina, Poland, Egypt, and Australia. [8]
Downey retired in 1993, but continued as a research scientist emeritus at AAFC and an adjunct professor at the University of Sakatchewan. [2] In 1998, "Downey Street" at a research and development park in Saskatoon was named in his honour.
In the late 1990s, after his retirement, Downey led a project for Canadian school children that tested the effects of space travel on canola seeds. [2] The seeds had spent 17 days in orbit aboard the Columbia space shuttle, then were subsequently planted in classrooms across the country. [10] A highly significant increase in germination rate was observed when compared to canola seeds that were left on earth. [2] [10] Researchers are still working to understand the results. [2]
Rapeseed, also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae, cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains appreciable amounts of erucic acid. The term "canola" denotes a group of rapeseed cultivars that were bred to have very low levels of erucic acid and which are especially prized for use as human and animal food. Rapeseed is the third-largest source of vegetable oil and the second-largest source of protein meal in the world.
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the provincial legislature in 1907. It established the provincial university on March 19, 1907 "for the purpose of providing facilities for higher education in all its branches and enabling all persons without regard to race, creed or religion to take the fullest advantage". The University of Saskatchewan is the largest education institution in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The University of Saskatchewan is one of Canada's top research universities and is a member of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities.
Baldur Rosmund Stefansson, was a Canadian agricultural scientist and as one of the originators of canola, became known as the "Father of Canola".
Brassica rapa is a plant species growing in various widely cultivated forms including the turnip ; Komatsuna, napa cabbage, bomdong, bok choy, and rapini.
Monsanto Canada Inc v Schmeiser [2004] 1 S.C.R. 902, 2004 SCC 34 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada case on patent rights for biotechnology, between a Canadian canola farmer, Percy Schmeiser, and the agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto. The court heard the question of whether Schmeiser's intentionally growing genetically modified plants constituted "use" of Monsanto's patented genetically modified plant cells. By a 5-4 majority, the court ruled that it did. The Supreme Court also ruled 9-0 that Schmeiser did not have to pay Monsanto their technology use fee, damages or costs, as Schmeiser did not receive any benefit from the technology. The case drew worldwide attention and is widely misunderstood to concern what happens when farmers' fields are accidentally contaminated with patented seed. However, by the time the case went to trial, all claims of accidental contamination had been dropped; the court only considered the GM canola in Schmeiser's fields, which Schmeiser had intentionally concentrated and planted. Schmeiser did not put forward any defence of accidental contamination.
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Richardson International Limited is a privately held Canadian agricultural and food industry company headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company is one of several companies that are owned by James Richardson & Sons Limited. The company is a worldwide handler and merchandiser of all major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds and a vertically integrated processor and manufacturer of oats and canola-based products. Richardson has over 2,500 employees across Canada, the U.S. and U.K. Richardson International is a subsidiary of James Richardson & Sons, Limited, established in 1857.
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A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes.
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Isobel Parkin Ph.D. is a Canadian research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She is one of the world's premier canola scientists and her area of expertise focuses on brassica genomics, comparative genome organization, global gene expression analysis, and abiotic stress responses. She is well known for her work on an international project on the genetics of oil seeds, in particular the mapping and sequencing of the canola oil genome. She Co-lead the Canadian Canola Genome Sequence (CanSeq) team that successfully deciphered the canola genome and developed a high-quality genome sequence.
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. 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. Mitchell Fetch was employed by AAFC in 1998 and spent 22 years as an oat breeder before her retirement in 2020.
Guy Lafond was a research scientist for over 30 years with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Indian Head Research Farm in Saskatchewan. He was instrumental in establishing the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF) in the early 1990s and had a major impact on cropping practices and soil conservation.
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Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, it was restricted as a food oil due to its content of erucic acid, which in laboratory studies was shown to be damaging to the cardiac muscle of laboratory animals in high quantities and which imparts a bitter taste, and glucosinolates, which made it less nutritious in animal feed. Rapeseed oil from standard cultivars can contain up to 54% erucic acid.