Priority Areas for Single Crop and Cross-cutting Crop Research  

For eligible crops, WGRF will invest in both single crop and cross-cutting crop research in the priority areas of variety development and production.

Eligible Crops

barley, canary seed, canola, chickpea, corn, faba bean, flax, lentil, mustard, oats, pea, soybean, sunflower, wheat and winter cereals.

Single Crop Research Priorities

  • Variety Development e.g. genetics, breeding methods, pre-breeding, breeding, pest resistance development, breeding for crop quality, variety trialing;
  • Production e.g. cropping systems, crop nutrition, pest (insect, disease, weed) management, production management, soil quality, water use efficiency, fertilizer use efficiency, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, crop quality, storage, storage pests, economic analysis.

Cross-cutting Crop Research Priorities

WGRF’s priorities for research in cross-cutting crop production issues are an outcome of the Future Field Crop Research Needs process, launched in January 2021 as part of WGRF’s 40th anniversary. Over 300 farmers, agronomists, scientists, funding agencies and WGRF members participated in a series of interviews, discussion groups and workshops. WGRF considers “cross-cutting crop production issues” as those issues common to at least two or more of the fifteen crops eligible for WGRF funding (barley, canaryseed, canola, chickpea, corn, fababean, flax, lentil, mustard, oats, pea, soybean, sunflower, wheat and winter cereals)

The priorities are comprised of six themes, 17 issues and 66 research questions. The six themes are:

  • Weed management.
  • Disease management.
  • Insect pest management.
  • Plant nutrition.
  • Response to weather variability and climate change.
  • Sustainable resource management.