b'The SeCan team and its members represent Canadas largest supplier of certified seed, taking the form of a private, not-for-profit corporation. bound to miss potential winners. DroneThe Next 50 Yearshyperspectral imaging and AI give usWhat does the next half-century lookBY THE NUMBERS: WHY better indicators of yield and qualitylike? SECANS FUTURE LOOKS throughout the season. Its about improv- Reid sees SeCan as the bridge thatSTRONGing accuracy, not replacing field testing. ensures Canada has both strong public SeCans backing has allowed him toprograms and robust private partners.500+ members nationwideexperiment without fear. As a breeder,We may need entirely new institutions I cant be an expert in everythingAI,that dont exist yetsomething lean,Independent seed businesses form the drones, statistics. What I can do is iden- efficient, and inclusivewhere govern- backbone of SeCans network, giving it tify tools with potential and surroundment, industry, and producer groups allunmatched reach across regions and crops.myself with bright graduate students.come together. Over $170 million in total returns to plant Having SeCan behind me makes thatHooyer imagines deeper integrationbreedingpossible. toolinking breeding with processingWhat started as a distribution mandate and value-added markets. Instead ofnow fuels direct investment into breeding Made in Canada, For Canada outsourcing, keep it local. Breeding, pro- and variety developmentnearly double Across Reid, Hooyer, Downey,cessing, innovationit all strengthenscompared to a decade ago.VanderLoo, Rajcan, and Eskandari, oneCanadian businesses end-to-end. 50+ breeding partnershipsphrase surfaces again and again: Made inDowneys advice stays pragmatic:From AAFC and universities to independent Canada. Its literally become a slogan forthink in realistic time increments, stackprograms, SeCan supports both public SeCan in recent months, emblazoned onthe traits, and dont break what works. and private breeders, creating a uniquely its product guides, website, social mediaFor VanderLoo, the test will bebalanced model.accounts, ballcaps and t-shirts. whether Canada can keep building pre-Traits like herbicide tolerance willmiums into its crops. Food companiesOver 350 commercial varietiesalways be global, Reid says. But theare saying, We need protein. We needOver five decades, SeCan has helped move genetics that carry those traitsthoseflavour. We need function. Genetics isthousands of cereal, soybean, and pulse need to be tailored to Canadian soils,where it starts. SeCan helps make surevarieties from labs to farm fields.Canadian climates, Canadian markets.Canada can answer that call. National trial footprintThats where we can compete. Rajcan, ever the breeder, frames theHands-on with field trials, winter Hooyer agrees: Ive seen productswork as a marathon: It takes a decademultiplications, and grower feedback loops that thrive in Canada but flop in the U.S.to deliver a variety. But if SeCan keeps speeding up how genetics get tested and Our focus has to be on breeding here,building bridges between breeders, seeddelivered.for here. Thats how we keep independ- companies, and farmers, Canada willMade-in-Canada focusent seed businesses strong and our foodstill be leading 50 years from now. Protecting Canadian germplasm and system resilient. And Eskandari, already leaning intotailoring genetics to local soils and climates Downey puts it bluntly: We talkthe future, puts it simply: Breeding isntis central to SeCans strategyand to food about steel as critical to national security.just about todays cultivars. Its aboutsecurity.But genetics? Theyre the foundation ofgiving the next generation the tools and our food supply. Without control overpopulations theyll need to succeed. that, everything else falls apart. With SeCan, we can do that. 6 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA NOVEMBER 2025'