b'GIANT VIEWSON-FARM TRIALS ARE THE FUTURE IN IMPROVING CROP YIELD, SEED PERFORMANCE DECISIONSI READ WITHinterest your letter to the editor in the NovemberOne difficulty with the system was 2025 edition of Seed World Canada.the proliferation of lookalike varie-In it, Rob Graf, Pierre Hucl and Ron DePauw argue thatties, especially in the forage crop sector, Canadas wheat variety registration system is often criticizedlargely due to reselection in and from for slowing innovation, but it remains a valuable, industry-ledexisting varieties. This situation is still process that ensures new varieties meet agronomic and qualityworrisome. As research funding cutbacks standards through thorough testing.continue, it is not unexpected that estab-They go on to say that this transparency reduces costly mis- lishing adequate data to meet registration takes, often speeding adoption compared to countries with lessrequirements will continue to be increas-consistent data. The system is flexible, has recently improved itsingly difficult. By Martin Pick, seedevaluation tools, and continues to support rising productivityWith the important changes in agri-industry legendand resilience in Canadian wheat. Rather than abandon it, theculture, more growers will be encouraged and co-founder offocus should be on refining the system to meet future needs. to run their own initial testing before Pickseed The closing paragraph in this informative letter is an excel- committing to new varieties they havent lent recap and look to the future: While any system can betested. With hybrid corn this practice is improved, suggesting the registration system has outlived itswell underway.usefulness displays a lack of understanding of our variety reg- From my own observations re: forage IN THE END,istration system and its evolution since 1923. The question isntcrop testing for registration, I would sug-ON-FARM TESTINGwhether to abandon variety registrationbut how to keepgest the system is impractical.refining it to allow for innovation that will meet the challengesObserving trial sites in May and SITES OPERATEDof tomorrow. again in mid-August, its difficult to AND EVALUATEDAs mentioned, variety performance was a criteria to supportbelieve that there is adequate uniform-registration. However, as actual trialing resources diminished,ity over the required four replicates. As BY THE PRINCIPALit became difficult to find adequate trial sites to produce theGraf, Hucl and DePauw suggest, better PLAYER INnecessary data requirements. to work on improving the system rather When I joined the seed trade in 1956 there were many trialthan its abandonment. MAKING CHOICESlocations in the public sector: Ag Canada testing and R&DIn the end, on-farm testing sites oper-SEEMS TO BE Asites, public institutions, and as sites became more scarce largelyated and evaluated by the principal player due to reductions in public funding, the seed trade itself wasin making choices seems to be a positive POSITIVE CHOICE. encouraged to establish sites. Cereal crops, forages, hybrid cornchoice. and turf grasses were all subject to providing adequate data to meet registration requirements.40 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADAJANUARY 2026'