b'I think theres been a really good uptake to the fact that Virginia Dickison and David de Koeyer have been actively doing outreach across the country with the potato industry this past year, she says.There is tremendous opportunity going forward, and something that I find very refreshing is this increased opportunity that the industry has to engage with Ag Canada on the breeding program and really be heard in terms of priorities, Shinners-Carnelley adds. Were excited about that as an industry and I think its building momentum.There was lots of talk at the Red Deer meeting about how the AAFC breeding program should release promising new potato varieties in the future, Shin-ners-Carnelley notes. Virginia Dickison is operations manager and industryTracy Shinners-Carnelley is the director of research We had some great discussions and put forwardliaison officer for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canadasand quality enhancement with Peak of the Market in lots of different elements that need to be consideredpotato breeding program. PHOTO: AAFC Manitoba.PHOTO: PEAK OF THE MARKETwhen looking at what is the best way to release varie-ties to the Canadian potato industry, she says.There is so much diversity within potato produc-tion in Canada, and I think its important to have that conversation and recognize the many differences we do have across the country, Shinners-Carnelley adds.We got the message from Ag Canada that theyre quite willing to look at different models and recognize the fact that because we are such a diverse sector, one program like the accelerated release program, which had been in existence for the last number of years, maybe isnt best suited for all segments of the industry.ACCELERATED RELEASE PROGRAMTO ENDDickison says the AAFCs accelerated release program will be wrapping up this year. We have our AR-2018 selections that will be bid on online starting in January, and thats the final gen-eration from the program, she says. Weve had a lot of feedback on it. Some people really like that system. Then some people dont.Dickison says a top priority for the AAFC breeding program is to find common ground on what a new com-mercialization mechanism should look like. She says there seems to be a lot more agreement on a suitable path forward than she thought there might be.Were very open to having different models in place for the different sectors. Well have to still play it out, but were going to have a draft ready by February and well then send that out to industry to see what they think of it. And then were hoping to finalize everything by August.One of the proposals being considered is an RFP, orA farm crew works in the field during harvest season at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canadas potato breeding sub-a request for proposal model. station in Benton Ridge, N.B.PHOTO: AAFCWINTER 2020 SPUDSMART.COM 5'