Dr. Aaron Beattie (PhD)
Associate Professor
Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program (SRP) Chair in Barley and Oat Breeding and Genetics
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: BARLEY AND OAT BREEDER EXTENDS CLASSROOM TO FARMERS AND INDUSTRY
(by Ashleigh Mattern)
When CDC Bow, a malt barley variety, was released a few years ago, Maker’s Malt grew the new variety, malted it and then distributed it to microbreweries in Saskatchewan to make a variety of beers as part of the “Bow Project.”
“We had events in Saskatoon and Regina, and got many of the local brewers together,” said associate professor Aaron Beattie, who participated in the project.
“It gave me a chance to tell the story of what the Crop Development Centre does. A lot of people even in Saskatoon don’t have a great understanding of what the Crop Development Centre is or that it even exists; they have a well-known institution here that they may not be that familiar with.”
Beattie is a barley and oat breeder at the CDC, but he doesn’t spend his time cooped up in a lab. He conducts seminars and webinars with export customers, he appears on podcasts, and he interacts with farming organizations, sitting on national boards.
During the summer, he likes to hold field days for private industry and farmers. He sees this extension work as a branch of teaching — and he enjoys it.
He was recently awarded the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Outreach and Engagement for his extension work. “I like talking to people outside the university,” Beattie said. “When you’re not talking to scientists; you have to put information into a palatable format that people will understand. I think I have a knack for that and I enjoy hearing the questions that come back from people — they’re not always the questions you expect.”
‘THE BEER ANGLE IS ALWAYS FUN’
Beattie grew up in Regina, and his dad and grandparents had farms south of Moose Jaw, but he said he wasn’t initially interested in agriculture. His undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo was in genetics, with a focus on human genetics. It was during his Masters studies at the University of Guelph that he got into plant breeding.
“One of the fellows that was on my committee was a barley breeder and introduced me into that world,” he said. “It grabbed my interest a little more. The beer angle is always a fun angle to get involved with.”
Barley brought him back to Saskatchewan, too, as he did his PhD at USask with Dr. Brian Rossnagel (PhD), who was the prior barley and oat breeder.
Today, he breeds a number of different barley types, including malting barley, forage, feed and food barley, and on the oat side, he breeds forage oats and milling oats, “the kind you find in your Cheerios and oatmeal,” he said.
In the barley program, they’re aiming to improve disease resistance, quality, and yield, with a strong focus on the disease known as fusarium head blight, which produces mycotoxins.
For malting and brewing, creating varieties that are desirable for different markets is important, including large users like Anheuser-Busch as well as local brewers, who are looking for different qualities.
OATS: ANOTHER PLANT PROTEIN STAR
For oats, his program is aiming at improving disease resistance, quality, and yield, and they’re paying particular attention to protein content because oats are used a lot in food products.
Pulse crops have been stealing the spotlight in terms of plant proteins, but Beattie says oats also have a lot of potential.
“Most people think of oat milk as one of the applications but there’s a lot of interest [in] ... incorporating oat protein into different food products.” It has a healthy amino acid profile, and it’s a low input crop, which is positive from an environmental standpoint.
The changing climate is also on his mind. He’s interested in the roots of these crops, such as how roots deal with stresses like salinity or the uptake of nitrogen, but roots are difficult to study simply because of their location on the plants.
“Especially as we try to think of things like climate change, the way the plant interacts with the environment above ground and below is critical to keep production stable,” he said.