News

2025 SaskBarley Scholarship Recipients

January 06, 2026

I was honoured to be of the SaskBarley Scholarship recipients of 2025. This scholarship supports MSc and PhD students whose research projects are focused on improving Canadian barley production, sustainability, and end-use innovation, thus delivering results that benefit Canadian stakeholders in the barley value chain. In July of 2025, SaskBarley announced a partnership with Labatt Breweries of Canada in launching a graduate scholarship, aiming to support graduate students in Canadian universities who are focused on improving barley production. This scholarship is a significant achievement in my academic and professional journey and it motivates me even further to strive for excellence.

The Crop Manager

Adressing the Free Asparagine Challenge

November 2, 2020

Our project was featured in Top Crop Manager magazine, where Caroline King interviewed Dr. Martin Scanlon about the importance of reducing acrylamide formation in bakery products through the mitigation of free asparagine in wheat. The article covers free asparagine levels in Canadian wheat, the agricultural effects on these levels, breeding strategies, the impact on breadmaking quality, and future work.

Learn more here!

Spotlight on AWC- funded Research

Free Asparagine Resaerch May be Priceless for Producers

March, 2020

In this news, Dr. Martin Scanlon explains the importance of our project in tackling the mitigation of free asparagine in Canadian wheat. The free amino acid asparagine, naturally found in wheat, is the main precursor to acrylamide formation in baked goods. Acrylamide has been linked to cancer formation in lab animals, so the mitigation of free asparagine in wheat is critical for people’s health, the breadmaking industry, and Canadian wheat farmers.

Learn more here!