b'IS CANADAS AG INNOVATION EDGE SLIPPING AWAY?Our seed and plant-breeding systems are stuck in a risk-averse, underfunded loop, experts say. As other nations invest, adapt and accelerate, we face a critical choice about the future of our food system.By Marc ZienkiewiczCANADA SAYS IT wants to be an innovation superpower. Butnation, aging infrastructure, declining investment, and weak in agriculture, its R&D system is slowly drifting from globallinks between labs and farms.leader toward a cautious, risk-averse middle tier.Meanwhile, competitors are holding or expanding their Thats the message Seeds Canada and the Canadian Agri- investments. Australia maintains roughly $3 billion annually in Food Policy Institute (CAPI) are delivering to policymakers,total ag R&D, with private spending outpacing public. China, warning that Canadas seed and innovation systems are slippingBrazil and others are combining strategic private and public just as global competitors pick up speed. investment to drive sustainability, productivity and technologi-Innovation is what got us to where we are today, and itscal adoption.what will get us to where we need to be tomorrow, says CAPIsCanada isnt collapsing. But it is slowly losing ground.Tyler McCann. But we now have to ask if Canadian ag inno-vation is in a crisis. Increasingly, the evidence says yes. Regulation for Growth, Not ParalysisSeeds Canada policy director Lauren Comin puts it moreSeeds Canada carried out its annual meetings on Parliament bluntly: regulation is stalling innovation, and Canadas rules forHill in Ottawa last fall with two main priorities: regulation for seed and plant breeding are no longer suited to todays com- growth and incentivizing investment and innovation in plant petitive pace. Our regulatory system, particularly for seed, isbreeding and intellectual property (IP).extremely risk-averse, she says. In some cases, it discouragesComin says MPs were receptive. Seeds Canadas argument is innovation outright. that Canada needs a modern regulatory framework supporting economic growth rather than slowing it down. We need to ask A System That Used to Leadand Now Just Averages Out hard questions like: does this need to be regulated at all, or can Globally, agricultural R&D spending has been rising, but une- it move to voluntary industry standards?venly. High-income countries public investment has stalled,One of their boldest proposals: move the Canadian Food while developing countries are gradually catching up. CanadaInspection Agency (CFIA)at least the parts focused on is part of that stagnation. Public agricultural R&D spendingproductivity and competitivenessfrom the health portfolio declined from roughly $0.86 billion in 2013 to $0.68 billion inback into Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). For 2022the lowest among the top seven OECD agriculturalmany agriculture regulations, the primary focus isnt health and producers.safety, Comin says. Its productivity and growth. Research intensity has also slipped: while much of EuropeSurprisingly, the concept resonated with most MPs.and high-income Asia invest about 4.5% of agricultural GDPSeeds Canada, along with the Canadian Seed Growers in public ag R&D, Canada invests closer to 2%. Association, is also pushing to formalize an inclusive seed We used to be a leader. Now, depending on the metric,regulatory advisory body as part of the long-running Seed were just averageand trending the wrong way, McCannRegulatory Modernization process. CFIAs own proposals now says, citing CAPIs new report identifying fragmented coordi- reference such a body.Australias Moree Farms. Australia maintains roughly $3 billion annually in total ag R&D, with private spending outpacing public.16 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA JANUARY 2026'