Executive Director
Canadian Seed Institute
I learned the value of innovation early in my agricultural career. Allan Boese, my first boss, hired me as a farm hand. He was a very successful dairy farmer which I attribute to his drive for continual improvement. He was very humble about his achievements with his purebred Holstein dairy herd. He often told me that his success was borne largely of luck, but I know it was much more than luck — he set himself up for success.
He was always thinking about how he could do things better — a key question that often inspires innovation. Armed with new information following one of my 4-H dairy calf club meetings, I told Allan we were losing too much of the alfalfa leaves from our hay in our feed mangers (that’s where most of the feed value is). He asked me what I thought we should do. We built a rack that suspended the hay bales above the manger so that the cows could lick up the leaves that fell to the manger below. It was a simple innovation!
Allan’s first lesson I understood right away — innovation is a key element in increased productivity. His second lesson I understand much better today — one way to increase productivity is to stimulate innovation.
We relate well to the need to stimulate innovation in the seed industry. We need new, higher yielding, low-input, drought-tolerant and pest-resistant varieties with enhanced quality characteristics to meet existing and emerging market needs. But we also need to resolve the royalty collection mechanism that will support the ongoing cycle of value sharing.
AAFC and CFIA started consultations this winter in an effort to resolve that question. They are asking the agriculture industry to consider two value capture models, one model based on end point royalties (EPRs) where a royalty would be collected on the delivery of grain, and the second model based on farmers paying a trailing royalty on the portion of their commercial crop that they choose to use as seed.
The Seed Synergy partners support the model based on trailing royalties in the form a Seed Variety Use Agreement (SVUA). Following are some of the benefits of this model:
• Not all seed will be subject to a royalty. Only UPOV 91-protected varieties will eligible for a trailing royalty collection. Farmers will not have to pay a trailing royalty on varieties that do not fall under UPOV 91. That is, they will not have to pay trailing royalties on tried-and-true varieties;
• Breeders will have to apply for a royalty to be applied to their UPOV 91 variety;
• The trailing royalty model supports farmers’ right to use their commercial grain as seed;
• Farmers will still have choice. Tried-and-true varieties will be available for as long as demand exists;
• This system does not bias breeders to concentrate on yield at the expense of quality or other traits;
• It’s the best model to support the current trend and market demand for traceability;
• Best model for farmers to avoid paying royalties twice in years they purchase Certified seed;
• Simplest system to implement since it an extension of seed contracts that seed companies are already using for the sale of Certified seed.
To set our agriculture industry up for success, everyone must stay engaged in order to empower our industry for success.
As the value creation consultations continue, I encourage you to visit seedvaluecreation.ca. It’s one of the best resources for accurate information about value creation.
