b'RETAIL STRATEGYThe Crop Diversification Centre South facility in Alberta, now managed by a municipality, hints at a broader rethinking of governance models.PLANT BREEDING AT A CROSSROADSFrom fusarium nurseries to seed-purity units, Canadas research infrastructure faces hard choices about funding, governance and the future of collaboration.By Marc ZienkiewiczON THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES, urgencytribution alliances. And were not sureseed companies have licensed, multiplied rarely announces itself with sirens. Itthat people have clear direction on whatsand marketed the resulting varieties, cre-arrives instead with a calendar. going in the ground or what isnt. ating a cycle of innovation and adoption.By late February, across researchBehind the unease lies a broader reck- The arrangement, as Brent Derkatch, stations and trial fields stretching fromoning. Canadas plant breeding systempresident and CEO of Canterra Seeds, Manitoba through Saskatchewan into long admired for marrying publicputs it, has been public and private, not Alberta, thousands of small plots arescience, farmer investment and private- public or private.meant to be mapped, seeded and logged.sector deliveryis under strain. For aFoundational research has typically Each one represents a data point in acountry that prides itself on producingbeen conducted in the public sphere. long experiment: a potential improve- some of the worlds highest-quality cere- From there, both public and private ment in yield, disease resistance, quality,als and pulses, the implications extendbreeding programs refine and commer-or resilience. Miss a season, and the losswell beyond the laboratory. cialise varieties. Retailers and seed com-cannot simply be reclaimed. A years datapanies deliver them to farmers. Farmers vanishes. A breeding cycle stretches. AThe Architecture of an Advantage fund the next round through checkoffs competitive edge dulls. Canadas agricultural advantage hasand levies.This year, the ticking of that calendarnever rested solely on acreage. It has beenIt is a system that has worked remark-has taken on a sharper tone. built on genetics. ably well. Canadian wheat, in particular, Were talking about tens of thou- Over decades, publicly fundedcommands a global reputation for qual-sands of plots that should be going in thebreeding programs have generatedity. Canadas advantage didnt happen ground in a matter of weeks, says Jefffoundational germplasm. Farmer-fundedby accident, says Jocelyn Velestuk, Reid, general manager for SeCan, one ofcommissions have poured millions ofchair of the Canadian Wheat Research Canadas largest seed marketing and dis- dollars into variety development. PrivateCoalition (CWRC). Its the result of 36 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA MARCH 2026'