36 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA NOVEMBER 2026 For a breeder, however, a variety serving fewer acres may struggle to earn enough to support the program behind it. Stamp sees that as a barrier to new entrants and to investment in smaller crop classes. “What could we have if we had a different way of paying for what we use?” he asks. The answer can’t rest entirely on commercial returns. Stamp says founda tional, non-competitive research remains a public good. He is especially concerned about crops with too little acreage to gen erate a large breeding revenue stream. Keating is more cautious about describing the current system as “broken.” He sees value in what Canada has built and warns that alarmist lan guage can make a difficult discussion harder. But he agrees that breeding needs stable funding and a marketplace that rewards varieties farmers choose. Keep the Evidence Behind the Recommendation A faster path to market may appeal to breeders and distributors. Hyra’s concern is what information seed growers, retailers and farmers would have when a variety gets there. “I’m not necessarily hung up on preserving the variety registration system exactly as it exists,” he says. “But I am hung up on ensuring people have access to good data.” He cautions against assuming regional variety trials can simply replace all the information generated through registration trials. Regional trials pri marily provide yield comparisons, he says, with some additional information depending on the trial. Registration trials also contribute to variety descriptions and seed guides, including assessments of maturity, lodging, sprouting, quality and disease. “In the absence of having those reg SUPPORTED BY: ENDORSED BY: istration trials, where does that informa tion come from?” he asks. Disease ratings require trained plant pathologists. Quality testing requires its own expertise. Hyra said those resources are expensive and difficult for individual organizations to reproduce. Before changing registration requirements, he wants a credible plan for maintaining the information farmers use. His concern is practical. SeCan examines trial results before asking mem bers to commit seed production acres to a variety. “They don’t like surprises,” Hyra says. A product that excels in one year and fails in another can be costly for both seed growers and their customers. Keating wants independent, multi- year testing close enough to his farm to reflect local conditions. Without it, choosing what to multiply “would be a real crapshoot.” Stamp also wants more useful infor mation, though he questions how easily farmers can access existing registration data. His business runs on-farm trials because its results sometimes differ from regional trials. Hyra sees room to improve testing, including more locations and stronger data, provided professional disease and quality assessment remain in place. “Can it be modified before it gets thrown away?” he asks. “If it’s thrown away, it’s not coming back.” Watch the full-length webinar on this topic! RETAIL STRATEGY Don’t Lose the Handoff Even a well-bred, thoroughly tested variety cannot help a farmer who can’t get seed. Petruic sees that final stretch as one of the lessons of the debate over Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Indian Head research farm. The seed increase work there replicates AAFC varieties before seed growers take on the next stage of multiplication. His concern is what hap pens when established capacity disap pears before an alternative is ready. Asked what a successful Canadian seed system would look like in 2035, Keating names stable breeding fund ing, credible independent trial data and a marketplace that rewards successful varieties. Stamp wants a clearer connec tion between the variety a farmer chooses and the people who developed it, includ ing when that variety serves a particular region rather than every acre. Hyra’s question is whether farmers will still have the evidence to recognize a better choice. Petruic’s is whether they will be able to buy it. POLL What is the greatest threat to Canada’s ability to deliver better seed? Insufficient breeding investment 56% Loss of public research capacity 18% Weak returns for variety developers 18% Gaps in independent performance data 6%
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