The Next Big Leap in Lentils Starts Here
Ana Vargas has a clear picture of what she wants lentil breeding to deliver: a drive across Western Canada, 10 years from now, past healthy green fields where lentils are thriving and weeds are less of a problem.
It is a vision shaped by the disease and weed pressure she has seen in the field. For Vargas, reaching that future depends on a close relationship between the people developing new varieties and the growers who will use them.
Vargas is the lentil and faba bean breeder at the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre and an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences. In On The Brink, Season 3, Episode 10, she explains why grower participation matters to her program and what she values about Canada’s public breeding system.
In the full interview, Vargas identifies root rot resistance and different mechanisms of herbicide tolerance as priorities for the next generation of lentil varieties. Those goals make her vision for healthier fields more concrete. They are breeding objectives, rather than a promise that a particular variety will be available within 10 years.
Growers belong in the breeding conversation
Vargas wants open communication with growers and active participation in her program. Their support signals a mutual commitment and helps validate the work she is doing. She sees grower involvement as central to the purpose of breeding.
That relationship reaches beyond funding. Growers need opportunities to share what they are seeing in their fields, while breeders need to understand the challenges new varieties must address. For Vargas, keeping that conversation open is part of building a program that serves growers over the long term.
“What I really hope for my program is that there is a lot of participation from growers,” she says.
What public breeding contributes
Vargas identifies three contributions that she believes make public breeding important: educating the people who work across the breeding sector, pursuing research over long periods and maintaining a public role in managing the genetic resources used to develop future crops.
She connects those responsibilities to food security and innovation. Research and education undertaken within the public system can support work in both public and private breeding programs.
Having worked in different countries, Vargas was struck by the scale of Canadian plant breeding and the support behind it. She also points to the organization of the pedigreed seed distribution system as a strength.
Another advantage, she says, is the combination of people who have deep knowledge of Saskatchewan and those who bring experience from elsewhere. Bringing those perspectives together can help new ideas take root in a breeding program.
Reinvesting value in future varieties
Vargas also sees value in capturing revenue that can be reinvested in breeding. Her emphasis is on what that support can make possible over time: continued development of new varieties.
“I can speak to the importance of capturing any value that can be reinvested in breeding programs,” she says.
In the interview, she says the CDC is still working through the complexities of variety use agreements, or VUAs, and that none of its lentil varieties had a VUA in place at that time.
Her long-term ambition is for value generated by varieties to help support the work that produces the next generation. It sits alongside her call for grower participation and a continuing public role in breeding.
A community worth staying for
Canada’s breeding system impressed Vargas when she arrived. Her reasons for staying are also personal.
“At the end of the day, the community is what made me stay,” she says.
That sense of connection runs through her vision for the program. She wants growers involved in the work, support that can sustain it and a future in which the results are visible across Western Canada’s lentil fields.
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On the Brink is a cross-country storytelling project about plant breeding in Canada. The goal is to spark an open, multi-perspective, ongoing conversation about what’s possible, what’s at stake, and how to seize opportunities ahead. On the Brink releases new episodes every Wednesday. Watch Episode 6 featuring Andrew Campbell and subscribe to have future episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
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