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Known as the “father of canola,” plant scientist Keith Downey changed Canada’s agricultural history with his pioneering research at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). He converted rapeseed into canola, a nutritionally superior crop that now covers 20 million acres in Canada and contributes billions of dollars to the economy.

Born on Jan. 26, 1927 in Saskatoon, Downey studied at the University of Saskatchewan and Cornell in New York. He spent 40 years at AAFC, changing a crop that was once grown to produce industrial lubricant to an edible, high-protein crop used worldwide to produce oil and livestock feed. Canola, a name created by combining Canada and oil, is the third-largest crop in Canada after wheat and barley. It’s the largest source of edible oil internationally.

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Downey retired in 1993, but continued as a research scientist emeritus at AAFC and an adjunct professor at the U of S.