Finally, a Federal Budget and other Seed Ramblings

A long-awaited Federal budget has been tabled. Signalled for some time, it comes as no surprise that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) will see a 15% budget reduction over the next three years.

As a seed grower and retailer, I spend a great deal of time explaining the different agreements, covenants and restrictions that come with the purchase of new cereal and pulse varieties.

During my close to 40 years of planting crops much has changed: Plant Breeders Rights (PBR), International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and the Seed Synergy Collaboration Project. All these initiatives have been factors in bringing about change in how we are governed and regulated in the use of new seed genetics.

In the federal Agricultural Growth Act (2015) one of the key changes implemented through this legislation are amendments to the Plant Breeders’ Right Act (PBR ACT). These changes encourage increased investment in plant breeding in Canada and foster greater accessibility to foreign seed varieties for farmers. The amendments to the PBR Act came into force on February 27, 2015and include provisions that bring it in-line with the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 91).

Following the Agricultural Growth Act (2015) a Green paper and Seed Synergy White Paper were released in 2019 (a federal green paper is for discussion while a policy paper is called a white paper). The primary objectives of white paper were to stimulate innovation in the seed sector, modernize the seed regulatory framework and build the next generation seed organization for Canada.

More than five years later, and through the chaos of the Covid era, a final policy paper was released this past July with 52 proposals to modernize our seed regulatory system. We have realigned the seed organizations into not one, but two entities, Seeds Canada and the long-standing Canadian Seed Growers Association (CSGA). Full disclosure: I am a fee-paying seed grower member of the CSGA, and our farm has been a member, and I have been a Director of Seeds Canada, since its inception.

My personal perspective on seed genetics and the reason I became a seed grower, was to access the best genetics for my commercial grain farm. The specific cereal and pulse varieties I had followed through the registration cycle, at that time, were not going to be grown anywhere near my farming location in the Peace Region of NW Alberta.

As a primarily export oriented production region and country we must maintain our global competitive advantage though seed genetics and production innovation. Are we adequately stimulating innovation in cereal and pulse genetics? Have we attracted a meaningful number of key global players in seed genetics to Canada? In my opinion, we have not!

Key global players in this sector have left. Others have chosen to locate in the more lucrative US market to try to capture the opportunities in North America. Funds from the overpayment made by producers to the railways finds it way to fund some breeding. Even though this is supplemented with crop commission levy support, our public breeding programs have continued to shrink and, in some cases, close completely.

The most recent budget cuts at AAFC and the signalling of a desire to streamline research with reduction in areas where the private sector and academic institutions are active suggest we need a more industry and commercial driven funding model to adequately fund the seed value chain.

Coming out of the Seed Synergy consultation the sector settled on the Seed Variety Use Agreement (VUA) as the means to drive plant breeding investment. This is done by collecting a per acreage fee for the re-use of certified seed varieties that fall under this program (farmer privilege). The challenge with the implementation of this system is that varieties produced through AAFC, except for one oat variety in the East, is that AAFC intentionally keeps their varieties royalty free when used under farmer privilege.

There is a concerted effort going on in the trade to try to have AAFC bred varieties use the VUA to ensure continued and adequate funding for their breeding activities and, of course, level the playing field while bringing increased seed innovation to the market.

I should note that farmer privilege is limited to the reuse of those seed genetics to the original entity purchasing the certified seed where a VUA or other restrictive covenant does exist such as the Midge Tolerant Stewardship agreement and others. This privilege does not extend to family members or cousins operating other farms or the neighbors who barter or conduct the illegal trade of such seed. This happens at a large scale.

To recap, the following are the various models by which we sell seed to our customers:

Variety Use Agreement (VUA) – When certified seed is purchased the producer will be required to report through a web-based portal use or non use of seed grown from the original purchase, and if used for planting in subsequent years will pay a nominal fee per acre (typically $2 acre) as determined by the rights holder.

Midge Tolerant Stewardship Agreement (MTW) – The Stewardship Agreement for Midge Tolerant Wheat limits the use of farm-saved seed to one generation past Certified seed. It’s a simple step that keeps the interspersed refuge system at the proper level, preventing build-up of resistant midge. Without the refuge, we risk losing the one and only tolerance gene.

Syngenta Stewardship Agreement (SSA) – Syngenta Canada Inc. Stewardship Agreement outlines the terms under which growers may grow, and market technologies sourced from Syngenta. In the case of any cereal crops we sell from Syngenta this restricts the use of arm saved seed equal to the acreage planted for only the one year following the original planting. While Syngenta no longer has a breeding program in Canada, FP Genetics now manages the distribution of their seed in our market.

Others – We are in discussion with some rights holders looking to bring some innovative seed genetics to the market for our region that may have their own unique restrictions including no reuse of any seed material for subsequent planting.

I hope this clarifies some of the complexities of acquiring new cereal and pulse varieties for your farming operations and best of luck planning for the 2026 growing season.