Austin Bruch is developing a program to reduce crop failure and increase quality
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A research assistant at the University of Guelph is among the recipients of provincial industry awards.
Austin Bruch won an Excellence in Agriculture award from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs earlier this month for his work developing a corn cross-breeding program to reduce crop failure and increase the quality of corn consumed domestically and internationally.
“A friend told me I should apply (for the award) but I never thought I’d win,” he told Farms.com. “I was definitely excited when I found out.”
Bruch won in the youth category, which is geared towards people under the age of 29.
Bruch’s program, which he runs by himself, started when he thought there should be corn that farmers can receive a premium on that also has flexibility in the marketplace.
“If you look at popcorn, you can get a premium on it, but it doesn’t have much flexibility,” he said.
His Peruvian housemate suggested he look at Cuzco corn, which is named after the capital city of the Inca empire.
The cobs have large, white kernels and the crop can be used for flour, corn nuts or eaten like sweet corn.
He’s breeding Peruvian corn with local corn that’s grown in Ontario to make a hybrid of the two.
“I thought, what if we could make higher-value corn from this?” Bruch said. “Farmers can grow it just like normal corn but it’s something that can be turned into different items like flour or silage. Hopefully, farmers can grow it and have more money in their pockets at the end of the day, similar to IP soybeans and edible beans.”
Bruch has a small test plot with about 50 plants on a quarter of an acre of land.
The plants are the second generation of his work, and he’s looking for producers who are interested in growing this crop.
“I’m looking for growers to work with me to grow out this product so I can get some yield data and enough product to bake with it or feed it to livestock,” he said.
In total, five people and organizations received Excellence in Agriculture honours.