In the history of Canadian agriculture, few names stand out as profoundly as that of Charles Saunders. By producing a high-quality wheat variety that could thrive in the country’s colder climate, Canadian agriculture began flourishing. However, this triumph was in jeopardy as a deadly crop disease lurked in the shadows, threatening wheat fields across the Prairies. Researchers were defeated. Crops withered and died. Farmers worried for the future. But hope was on the horizon as rumours swirled of a certain intelligent and highly-skilled female researcher who would be wheat’s saving grace.
This is the story of Margaret Newton’s rise in the world of Canadian agriculture.
The hero of Canadian wheat
Margaret Newton
Margaret Newton was born in Montreal in 1887. A lifelong learner with a curious mind, she began her career as a teacher, finding great fulfillment and joy in shaping young minds. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the classroom, Margaret realized her own unquenchable thirst for a higher education and made the difficult decision to leave teaching, enrolling in an arts program at McMaster University. However, upon visiting her brother who was studying at McGill University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Margaret’s interest was piqued, and soon after, she applied to the agriculture program for herself. Though she was confident in this decision, the journey of her education would prove to be an uphill battle, as she faced prejudices every step of the way.
An obvious outlier in a sea of applicants, the admissions office at McGill was hesitant to offer a young, unmarried woman a spot in the program. After much advocating, Margaret was officially accepted in 1914, the only woman in a group of 50 men. But that wasn’t the only thing that set her apart from her peers: Margaret went to school every day with a fearless determination, breaking barriers inside and outside the classroom. In one memorable act of bravery, Margaret and one of her professors overturned an archaic rule that barred female students from using the labs due to a strict 10 p.m. curfew. Not being able to access her work in the evening wasn’t acceptable to the intrepid Margaret. Experiments waited for no one, least of all because of a silly, sexist system.
During her second year, Margaret took a course in mycology (the study of fungi), and once again, felt the irresistible pull of destiny. One specialization in plant pathology later, and Margaret was researching a plant disease that would soon be synonymous with her name: wheat stem rust.
Shaking off the rust
What is Wheat Stem Rust?
Wheat stem rust is a plant disease caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis. It infects the stems of the wheat plant, creating reddish-brown spores that have a rust-like colouring. An infected plant has a weaker stem, which can lead to breakage and a reduced amount of grain for harvesting. This fungus is typically spread by the wind and the tiny spores can travel long distances to infect crops.
At the turn of the 20th century, rust diseases in plants were becoming a huge problem across Canada. New variants of the disease continued to spread like wildfire in farmers’ fields: in 1916, 1919 and 1921, the crop disease devastated wheat in the West. 1916 was a particularly bad year, as the disease claimed over 100 million bushels of spring wheat.
What wheat needed was a boost in resilience.
Researchers and farmers experimented with solutions to end the epidemic, including Charles Saunders himself, but none were able to successfully eradicate the rust. While conducting his own wheat studies, Charles caught wind of a certain plant pathologist prodigy. On a hot summer’s day in 1917, he paid Margaret a visit, enlisting her help by giving her some Marquis wheat seeds to use in experiments.
Margaret wasted no time. Collecting the tiny rust spores (organisms that produce fungal rust diseases) from infected plants, she transferred them onto healthy Marquis wheat and other lines of wheat. Over the next few days, Margaret watched closely and noticed that the tiny rust spores produced different types of infections on the wheat. She was puzzled, wondering what this meant. Then a lightbulb went off: if each rust spore had a different effect on the wheat, it meant that the spores were genetically variable (the DNA variations within the same species, like different hair or eye colour in humans).
This incredible breakthrough led to a better understanding of the diversity between rust strains and how wheat was being infected. Margaret was able to identify which strains were making the plants die, and this key information allowed plant breeders to select varieties that could fight the many strains of rust.
Margaret, third from left, stands in a field with other researchers
In 1924, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada established its Rust Research Laboratory in Winnipeg, a city with deep roots in wheat farming. Margaret was asked to be the lead researcher, where she would work tirelessly to make sure farmers’ fields were protected from diseases. By developing an annual stem rust survey, she and her team collaborated with wheat breeders to test generations of wheat for rust resistance and develop new cultivars, finally reducing the wheat lost from rust to almost zero in Canada.
Margaret’s dedication to her research helped her become the first woman to obtain a degree from McGill University’s agricultural program. She also pursued a Master of Science degree and a Ph.D. in agriculture science—the first woman in Canada to hold such an achievement. But, like Canada’s answer to Marie Curie, she worked to the point of exhaustion throughout her entire career and eventually sacrificed her own health for the benefit of humanity.
A lasting impact
Margaret quickly became a world-wide specialist on plant rusts, and word of her discoveries made its way around the globe. Other countries sought her help in combatting their own epidemics, with the Russian director of agricultural research even offering her a position. She was promised a lavish salary and a staff of 50 scientists, complete with a caravan of camels to move her around in style. Margaret, however, turned him down, happy to continue her research in Canada and make strides in the wheat economy with record-breaking harvests year after year.
Though she knew more about stem rust than anyone, she developed allergies to the spores after many years of close contact. In her late 50s, Margaret had to retire early due to respiratory problems caused by the spores. Because of her early retirement, the government was at first hesitant to give Margaret a full pension. Canadian farmers, who were deeply grateful for Margaret's brilliant career on their behalf, wouldn't hear of it. They petitioned vigorously for her to receive a full pension, which was duly granted.
In her later years, Margaret was happy to lend a helping hand with tricky experiments, consultations tapping into her wealth of knowledge, as a guide for even the most seasoned scientists—she was always there, though never back in the field. Without the pressure and long work hours, there was finally time for other hobbies and passions where she settled in Victoria, British Columbia. That curious nature never stopped, with wildlife activities like birdwatching and canoeing taking over from Petrie dishes and microscopes.
When Margaret passed away in 1971, her accomplishments had already been recognized as historic. The lasting significance of her work has placed her alongside Sir Charles Saunders as one of Canada’s agricultural heroes. She is a source of inspiration and pride for many Canadian scientists, including those carrying on her tradition at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada today.
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