The seed industry in Canada is changing at a rapid rate — the industry will look back at this time in history and realize this was the moment a new path forward was defined.
Change is one word that sums up the Canadian seed industry this year. “A lot of changes are impacting the seed industry right now,” says Chris Churko, general manager of Alliance Seed. “Grain companies are asking themselves a lot of questions in terms of who their customers are and what they really need. Processors are looking at quality and if there is something they can do differently. We’re talking about alternative delivery for seed crop inspections and a change to variety registration. There are all these moving pieces that, as the seed industry, you have to be ready for, adapt to and maybe even steer that process a little.”
Churko says the successful companies will be those who navigate the change in the next couple years and are able to help growers deal with the net result. “You can either stand up and be a part of the change, or you can sit back and wait,” he says. “Alliance and myself, personally, want to be a part of that change. This is one of those times where we are defining what this industry will look like going forward.”
Dave Baute, president of Maizex Seeds, says the challenges involved with navigating all the changes are the same — whether you are a small, independent company or a large multinational. “We are all navigating in a rapidly changing industry,” he says. “Our product offerings and the services we provide are more technical, involving sophisticated intellectual property considerations and offering tremendous value to our customers. We are obligated to operate in an environment that continues to be heavily regulated, despite the realities of needing to bear more of the direct costs associated with reduced government services.”
It’s not just regulatory and policy changes, the physical face of agriculture is changing in Canada, too. “The consolidation of acreage and the generational succession of farm operations is both a huge challenge and an opportunity today,” says Baute. “These larger farm operations with younger decision-makers have very different agronomic and management needs than even three or four years ago. We, as an industry, need have the depth to identify those needs and repackage our value proposition.”
That repackaging might take increased dollars. “Change is always uncomfortable and expensive,” Baute says. “Companies need to have the capital and human resources to take advantage of these opportunities.”
PBR Update … Finally
Perhaps one of the most exciting changes right now is the Canadian government’s pledge to finally move Canada’s plant breeder’s rights legislation to UPOV 1991. A move that Anthony Parker, commissioner of the Plant Breeders’ Rights Office for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, says will increase innovation and investment to the industry.
“It’s very exciting for plant breeding in Canada. It’s something plant breeders and actually the farming community have been waiting for, for quite some time,” he says. “It’s going to benefit both plant breeders and farmers by strengthening the intellectual property framework so it’s going to be far more attractive for investment in plant breeding. It’s going to benefit not only our public sector breeders who use PBR protection, but also encourage private sector investment. It will encourage breeders from overseas who have intellectual property protection on par in other countries to bring those varieties to Canada, and really the increased choice is going to be the benefit to farmers — access to more innovative varieties to help them remain competitive internationally. We’re pretty excited about it and think it’s going to be a boost for agriculture.”
According to Dennis Birtles who as president of Evident: Corporate Investigations and Agro Protection International has been protecting companies’ intellectual property for 20 years, IP protection is critical for advancing the industry.
“Intellectual property, as a broad category, has provided the tools both technological and financial that enable breeders, companies and other innovators in agriculture to pursue advancements in yield, crop protection and other enhancements that weren’t available 20 to 30 years ago,” he says. “Many of the advances that we have seen, and continue to see, in agriculture are the direct result of the flexibility that comes with the development of IP. One of the greatest stories around the importance and value of IP in agriculture can be seen in the incredible yield growth in corn over the past 30 years.”
Birtles says intellectual property tools enable people and companies to capture the value of their inventions and innovations, a pretty important factor for agriculture right now as it aims to feed a growing population.
“The changes that accompany this are that growers have a lot to understand about their options and responsibilities when it comes to growing technologically advanced crops,” Birtles says. “An example would be the need for exemplary stewardship around corn refuge management. The technology has to be properly used and managed in order to be maintained. Seed companies, meanwhile, need to be careful to steward their technologies, and to protect their intellectual properties from theft and misuse, in order to avoid a loss or erosion of their incipient value.”
“Seed companies, meanwhile, need to be careful to steward their technologies, and to protect their intellectual properties from theft and misuse, in order to avoid a loss or erosion of their incipient value.” — Dennis Birtles
Working with the Value Chain
As the industry works together on these changes, there has been a renewed sense of cooperation across the value chain. In today’s climate, Churko says working together to ensure the end user gets what he or she wants is key and is the reason Alliance was created.
“As I look at this company going forward, I think the greatest success really has been the model the founders came up with,” he says. “I think it fits well with the seed and ag industry and it really is positioned better than any other cereal seed company in terms of being collaborative with the entire value chain. Obviously, we’re seeing that trend where everybody wants to work together on getting things right from the field to the end user, and I think the model that allows that is the biggest win. I don’t know whose brain child that was but they obviously had some vision in terms of where the future was going to go.”
A Global Scope
While the industry is busy working together on implementing change at the domestic level, the continued globalization of the seed industry means the movement of seed remains a top priority.
“I think the key issues are all really about the free movement of seed,” says Bryan Gerard, president and co-owner of Gerard Seed Solutions. “If you look at the ISF phytosanitary section and the work that they are starting, and a lot of the headway they are going to make during the next year, there is no doubt that’s where a lot of energy is going to be.”
In fact, Gerard feels a move from domestic to international thinking is one of the biggest changes the seed industry has undergone in the past decade. “As I look back at 2007, the seed industry had been pretty set in the way that they’d done things. Much of the time, everything was still domestic. Now you must have a global perspective because even if your business is domestic, global aspects are going to impact it,” says Gerard. “The impacts may be from within the seed industry or they may actually be from outside the industry. It could be government relations, it could be conflicts, wars, and how that impacts your business. Having that willingness and having that understanding that you need to look beyond is a very important skill set [for the seed industry] that has come to fruition.”
Around the Globe
As the seed industry becomes increasingly global, certain markets are front and centre, perhaps none more so than China. “China is looking for self sufficiency and agriculture is at the very top of the government priorities,” says Pierre Cohadon, territory head for Syngenta China. “As a European working in a country where agriculture is a top priority, you feel great. There aren’t that many countries where agriculture is that important.”
As a result of this priority, the seed industry in China is advancing at a rapid pace. “Working with the Chinese authorities is very straightforward,” he says. “They want a win-win situation. Basically, they have a huge market and, in the meantime, they are interested in our technologies and abilities. They want to enter a win-win situation: ‘you can transfer technologies and know how to us and then you will access our market.’ So it’s pretty straightforward.”
However, Cohadon says the seed industry in China still faces some challenges. “A big part of the market is in the hands of very small generic companies — thousands of them,” he says. “Counterfeit is not just for luxury goods. You have a lot of counterfeit seeds, a lot of counterfeit crop protection products. But this is improving quickly because China is becoming the No. 1 economy, and authorities understand that intellectual property protection is a must. So things are moving very fast like most things in this country and I’m very confident for the future.”
That includes the increased use of GM seeds in China. “Chinese authorities are extremely pragmatic, but they are also extremely sensitive to public opinion,” says Cohadon. “So on one side they realize that GM crops are a very efficient tool among others to increase crop productivity, and they need them for ensuring self sufficiency. On the other side, they realize that the public opinion deserves
explanations and education, which takes time. I am confident that we will see more GM crops in China, probably towards the end of the decade.”
Movement of Seed
No other example quite highlights the importance of the free movement of seed as this year’s trade issue involving China and Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera trait. Agrisure Viptera, a corn trait protecting against corn borer and above ground pests, was registered in the United States in 2010 by the EPA.
“The minute it was registered, we submitted an import approval in China,” says Cohadon. More than four years passed before Syngenta received final authorization for this trait — it happened during the last week in December. In working through the process, Cohadon says the company did everything it could do to expedite the process. According to Cohadon, this issue of regulatory approvals goes far beyond Syngenta.
“This is really an industry issue involving seed companies, grain traders, growers and regulatory authorities,” Cohadon says. “The problem is the following. If you cannot submit an import approval in China until the trait is registered in the country of origin, and it takes two years for the Chinese authorities to grant this approval, by definition you will automatically have two seasons during which your trait will not be registered for importation in China.”
Therefore, he says the alignment of the regulatory authority system is a must and is that all seed industry players must work toward a better system.
With all of the changes happening in the seed industry right now, whether it be domestically or internationally, Baute says to continue being successful, the industry must remain proactive. “We need to plan for the future and find additional strategies to support these and other important issues,” he says. “We need to be proactive and continue to stay ahead of some of these issues that we are dealing with today. We have the leadership in our industry to do this; we need to have the will as well.”
Julie McNabb
