8 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA NOVEMBER 2026 The People Between the Breeder and the Bin From advocating for public research to preserving independent variety data, Canada’s provincial seed grower groups are stepping beyond certification to guide the system that moves better genetics onto farms. By Marc Zienkiewicz THE ALBERTA-BRITISH COLUMBIA Seed Growers (ABCSG) may not have the financial muscle of a large crop commis sion or government department. But President Sarah Weigum believes the organization possesses another form of influence — one that matters as Canada confronts difficult questions about vari ety testing, plant breeding and the future of its seed system. “I guess what we have is moral capi tal. As a leader of the provincial branch, I’m trying to use our that as efficiently as possible and keep bringing our ideas to the forefront.” Representing approximately 650 seed growers in Alberta and British Columbia, ABCSG has long supported the people who multiply and deliver new crop genetics. The Alberta Seed Guide’s fall and spring issues communicate the value of that hard work to farmers across the two provinces. Increasingly, however, ABCSG’s role extends beyond serving members. It is pushing to ensure seed With variety trials disappearing and pressure mounting on Canada’s breeding system, Alberta-British Columbia Seed Growers is using its credibility — and what President Sarah Weigum calls its “moral capital” — to ensure farmers retain access to trusted genetics and independent seed suppliers. Our Westernmost Seed Growers Step into a Bigger Role WITHIN CANADA’S FARMING landscape as it looks today, provincial seed grower associations occupy the vital “middle”. They take promising genetics from breeders, multiply them without losing their identity and turn an experimental variety into something farmers can plant. But as the system itself evolves, they’re in many ways stepping out of that middle lane and taking a more prominent role than ever. Long known for promoting certified seed, supporting crop inspection and representing specialized producers, these groups are stepping into larger debates over public research, regional variety trials, regulatory modernization and the future of independent seed businesses. From British Columbia to the Maritimes, their memberships, crops and political circumstances differ a lot. Yet the question confronting them all is the same: what needs to be preserved as Canada redesigns the system that delivers new genetics to farms? These six profiles reveal organizations learning to wield influence in different ways — through political advocacy, independent data, industry collaboration, institutional memory and what one leader calls “moral capital.” Their work is increasingly about more than the blue tag. It is about who shapes what farmers plant next, and how they do it. growers have a voice in decisions that could determine how new varieties are developed, tested and moved into farm ers’ fields. That was the message Weigum and ABCSG General Manager Adrienne Herron brought to a recent meeting Adrienne Herron serves as executive director for the Alberta-British Columbia Seed Growers (ABCSG).
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