Jed Christianson

At Bayer Crop Science Canada, I work with a team of people from around the world to develop new canola seed varieties. Some of the people I work with grow plants in the field or growth room for us to test. Others run genetic markers on plant samples. Some of my colleagues are breeding canola in Europe. Other colleagues work in South America and grow canola during our winter for us to bring back and test during our summer. I also work with data scientists who analyze vast amounts of genetic and crop observation data. This helps us understand how and why certain plants grow better in certain environments.

In my work, I spend some time in the field observing new canola lines. Some of the traits that I observe are height, time to maturity, and disease resistance. Mostly I work at my computer analyzing data and drafting presentations. I also spend time meeting with colleagues to solve problems. For example, we might have to develop a plan for how to move tens of thousands of seed samples around the world for testing or to keep them organized for testing in the field. I help plan experiments, analyze data and make decisions on what will be offered to farmers to help them manage disease and environmental stresses.

I rely on my knowledge of genetics, statistics and scientific problem solving to guide me make those decisions. Each year we test tens of thousands of new varieties in controlled and designed field experiments. Our goal is to determine which ones are most likely to be better than existing varieties. We look at such things as the producing yield, minimizing harvest loss, as well as managing weather risk and disease. My scientific background helps me understand how much of the differences we see between lines are due to their inherited characteristics versus variation between fields or growing seasons.