Dr. Stuart Smyth is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, where he holds the Agri-Food Innovation and Sustainability Enhancement Chair. This is the first P4 academic chair in Canada, as it includes public, private and producer stakeholders. Enhancement Chair stakeholders include the University of Saskatchewan’s Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS), Bayer, Syngenta, CropLife Canada, the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, the Canadian Canola Growers Association and the Alberta Wheat Commission.
Dr. Smyth’s research focuses on sustainability, agriculture, innovation, food and how regulations affect food systems. Research projects have quantified the economic and environmental benefits from the adoption of genetically modified crops and the regulatory barriers to the commercialization of gene-edited crops. The application of economic impact assessments has resulted in some of the first reporting of the sustainability of modern farming practices. Recognized as an expert on these subjects, Dr. Smyth has spoken at numerous national and international conferences, participated in many policy-oriented workshops and made submissions to parliamentary committees in Canada and Australia. Dr. Smyth publishes a weekly blog on the outcomes of his research and other important agricultural issues and topics at: www.SAIFood.ca.
Dr. Smyth is involved in leading the social science research with the Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre (P2IRC) at the University of Saskatchewan. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR) which holds annual conferences on the benefits and impacts of innovative agricultural technologies.
Related Publications
Williams, C., Gleim, S. and Smyth, S., 2021. Canadian perspectives on food security and plant breeding. CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, 2(1).
Lassoued, R., Phillips, P., Macall, D., Hesseln, H. and Smyth, S., 2021. Expert opinions on the regulation of plant genome editing. Plant Biotechnology Journal,.
Smyth, S. and Charles, T., 2021. Impacts on International Research Collaborations from DSI/ABS Uncertainty. Trends in Biotechnology, 39(5), pp.430-433.
Smyth, S., Gleim, S. and Lubieniechi, S., 2020. Regulatory Barriers to Innovative Plant Breeding in Canada. Frontiers in Genome Editing, 2.
Smyth, S., 2020. Regulatory barriers to improving global food security. Global Food Security, 26, p.100440.