NOVEMBER 2026  SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA   5
tools. The competition comes later 
through the varieties each breeding pro­
gram develops.
Canada's Advantage May Already Exist
Curtis Pozniak believes Canada has 
something many countries are trying to 
rebuild. The CDC director is frequently 
asked by researchers around the world 
how Canada’s public breeding system has 
remained so well connected. In many 
countries, he says, foundational research 
and applied breeding have become dis­
connected.
Canada has largely avoided that 
problem by maintaining close links 
between discovery science, variety devel­
opment and commercialization. That 
interconnected system, he argues, should 
become even more important as breed­
ing becomes increasingly dependent on 
genomics, digital tools and data science.
Rather than seeing public breed­
ing, private breeding or other structural 
models as competing, Pozniak sees them 
as complementary parts of one innova­
tion ecosystem. Pre-competitive research 
should remain collaborative. Variety 
development should remain competitive.
“There is a general consensus that 
there’s no single actor that can deliver 
optimal breeding alone,” he says.
Public breeding programs, he argues, 
continue to play a unique role by deliver­
ing varieties, crops, regions and long-
term breeding priorities, even when they 
fall outside commercial priorities. They 
also pursue higher-risk research, train 
future plant breeders, and maintain long-
term germplasm resources that deliver 
public-good outcomes that markets alone 
may not prioritize.
From Projects to Partnerships
Technology alone won’t determine 
whether Canada’s breeding system suc­
ceeds — stable investment and funding 
are equally important. Pozniak argues 
Chris Anderson of DL Seeds says private 
companies see immediate value in new 
partnerships because genomic prediction 
has become too expensive for individual 
organizations to build alone.
Curtis Pozniak of the Crop Development Centre 
is frequently asked by researchers around the 
world how Canada’s public breeding system 
has remained so well connected.
The opportunity to bring new tools used 
elsewhere into a crop like peas is an 
opportunity to maintain the competitiveness of 
the crop, says AAFC’s Francois Eudes.
Processors are informing breeding discussions 
much earlier than they once were, says 
SaskPulse Director of Research and 
Development Sherrilyn Phelps.
one of the greatest threats facing plant 
breeding is stop-and-start investment.
“Plant breeding is a long-term ven­
ture,” he says. “We need stable funding 
to support that.”
That philosophy is reflected in the 
CD’s newly announced lentil breeding 
partnership with SPG and APG.
Rather than funding individual 
research projects, the agreement com­
bines operational support, producer 
input into breeding priorities and a roy­
alty model designed to reinvest revenue 
back into future breeding. For Pozniak, 
that represents an important evolution.
Breeding programs require core 
funding to maintain long-term variety 
development, while research projects and 
industry partnerships help bring new sci­
ence into those programs. He also argues 
that royalties generated through success­
ful varieties should be reinvested directly 
into breeding, creating a more sustain­
able cycle of innovation. In fact, this is a 

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