WATCH: New report drops numbers on plant breeding ROI

[UPDATED] Most people wish their retirement savings plans were getting the kind of return on investment that plant breeding does at the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre (CDC).

That’s according to a new economic footprint assessment of the centre’s breeding work, released July 16 at Ag in Motion. The report noted an internal rate of return of 14.9 per cent for the centre’s key stakeholders, producing a benefit-cost ratio of 10.8.

Each dollar spent across the centre’s plant breeding programs provides $10.80 in benefit to farmers across the three Prairie provinces, producing a present value of net benefits of $10.2 billion.

For lentils alone, in which CDC-produced varieties hold the bulk of market share in Western Canada, the internal rate of return jumps to 20.1 per cent, for a benefit-cost ratio of 37.4 and a present value of net benefits of $4.2 billion.

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