JANUARY 2019 GERMINATION.CA 57 What were the major misunderstandings you encountered at the sessions about value creation, and what did you say to help bust those myths? No decisions have been made on the funding model that will be used. The cereal and grain sector has long recognized investment gaps in cereal breeding and has been discussing the concept of value creation for over a decade. Members of the Grains Roundtable adopted a recommendation in November 2017 asking Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to consult grain and cereal sector stakeholders on these two models. Government of Canada consulta- tions on the proposed funding models are ongoing. Input from these sessions will help inform the next steps of the consultative process. We emphasized throughout the sessions that any changes to how farm-saved seed is treated in the future will only apply, at a maximum, to varieties registered after February 2015 (when Canada’s Plant Breeder’s Rights Act was last amended), or newly registered varieties. The actual date could be even later as it could be set in regu- lation. This will allow farmers to continue using varieties for which they are able to save and reuse seed without restriction, and under the parameters of UPOV 91. Variety developers would have to demonstrate producers are getting value and increased profitability for that extra royalty paid. In other words, producers would ultimately have a say in those varieties that become more prevalent in the marketplace through their purchasing power. There have been many studies done in Canada and internationally about the “multiplier” effect of dollars invested in plant breeding. For example, from 1991 to 2015, the estimated Prairie-wide benefit-to-cost ratio for investments made in plant breeding by Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre (CDC) is 11.5, meaning each dollar of plant breeding expenditure provided $11.50 of benefit across the three Prairie provinces. Over this same time period, CDC-developed varieties increased producer profitability by $3.8 billion. Likewise, a 2005 University of Saskatchewan study estimated that producers received $4.40 and $12.40 for every check-off dollar invested in wheat and barley breeding respectively. AAFC will continue to work with industry and pro- ducer organizations on research and variety development. The message we shared with the sector is that the Government of Canada is listening to Canadian cereal and grain growers and their associations and supports the Grains Value Chain Roundtable’s request to consider new models to generate more investment in cereals research and development. The goal is to have a more competitive sector and increasing investment in cereals research and variety development is an important part of achieving this goal. Anthony Parker Commissioner, Plant Breeders’ Rights Office Carla St. Croix Director, Innovation and Growth Policy Strategic Policy Branch Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada