SEPTEMBER 2026  SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA   27
One of the Clearest Warning Signs is 
Already Showing Up
Anthony Parker has an unusual window 
into the innovation pipeline. As Canada’s 
commissioner of Plant Breeders’ Rights 
(PBR) at the Canadian Food Inspection 
Agency, Parker sees applications for intel­
lectual property protection on new plant 
varieties. And lately, he doesn’t like what 
he’s seeing.
“We’ve looked at the number of fil­
ings for PBR for both public varieties and 
private varieties and they’re both going 
down,” Parker says. “And they’ve been on 
a downward trend for about three years.”
That matters because PBR is one 
mechanism that makes investment in 
new varieties financially viable. Fewer 
applications today can mean fewer inno­
vations reaching farmers tomorrow.
“If this trend continues, there will be 
an absence, a lack of innovation, coming 
to farmers,” Parker says, “and that’s 
going to really put them in a precarious 
predicament.”
In other words, this isn't just an IP 
debate. It’s a pipeline problem. 
Do we Have a Problem With the Word 
“Efficient”?
Consolidation sounds sensible. Put 
researchers together. Concentrate 
resources. Eliminate duplication. Create 
scale.
Then talk to Eastern Ontario agrono­
mist Paul Sullivan. He advises more than 
100 customers growing corn, soybeans, 
winter wheat, spring wheat and forages. 
He thinks about crop performance as the 
interaction of genetics, environment and 
management.
And he puts genetics first.
“The foundation to me is good genet­
ics that are developed and are adapted to 
the area that they’re being grown in,” he 
says.
That last part matters. Agriculture is 
stubbornly local: soils change, winters 
change, disease pressure changes. So do 
growing seasons. A breeding program 
can become more efficient on paper while 
becoming less relevant to the farmer who 
ultimately needs its varieties.
“If we’re going to continue to move 
the bar, then the breeding programs 
need to be based in Ontario, need to be 
ture, but the pipeline producing new 
varieties is showing cracks. Jocelyn 
Velestuk, chair of Sask Wheat and the 
Canadian Wheat Research Coalition, 
says its review found “significant gaps 
and risks within the current system,” 
particularly in variety development and 
testing.
Those weaknesses could slow new 
varieties reaching farmers, a concern 
heightened by recent cuts affecting fed­
eral research stations. Velestuk’s conclu­
sion: “Status quo is not an option.”
Farmers have also invested heavily 
in the system — more than $70 million 
over six years, with a reported 33-to-1 
return. That’s driving discussion about a 
farmer-led breeding model. As Velestuk 
puts it: “Who better to take the lead than 
farmers?” 
properly funded and supported,” Sullivan 
says.
Eastern Canada Exposes a Flaw in the 
Economics
Josh Cowan, director of research and 
innovation at Grain Farmers of Ontario, 
sees another problem. Western Canada 
produces roughly 10 times more wheat 
than Eastern Canada. That means there 
are far more producer dollars available to 
support western breeding.
For smaller-acre crops in the East, 
the private-sector business case becomes 
much harder to make. But farmers still 
need those crops. Small cereals provide 
rotation options and help spread risk. 
High-value non-GMO soybeans need 
genetics suited to regional conditions. 
And increasingly unpredictable weather 
makes diversity more valuable, not less.
This is where a national breeding 
strategy collides with regional economics.
“Regional breeding is not about 
duplicating effort,” Cowan says. “It’s 
about ensuring that farmers have access 
to varieties that work where they farm.”
Farmers Want to Lead a Redesign of 
Canada’s Wheat Breeding System
Wheat is a backbone of Prairie agricul­
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ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL 
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