b'WE NEED MORE THAN JUST CHECKOFF DOLLARS TO BRING NEW SEED TO FARMERSThe funding landscape for seed development is more complicated than it used to be. While producer levies are crucial, theyre just one piece of the puzzle.Marc ZienkiewiczA SIGNIFICANT PORTION of plant breedingsole funding source for the developmentmade in terms of allocating check-off is funded through producer checkoffs,of new seed varieties, and as the worlddollars. That said, one of the highlights levies collected from farmers when theyevolves, so does the need for new fundingthat came out of that report is how sell their crops. These funds are directedsources to ensure the latest genetics areresearch today is really a collaborative, towards research and development,brought to farmers everywhere.effort, he says. including plant breeding initiatives, withHe helped author the report EconomicYouve got Agriculture and Agri-the goal of improving crop varieties andImpact Assessment of Alberta GrainsFood Canada (AAFC) putting in enhancing agricultural productivity. Research Investments, conducted in 2024money, the universities, and then thats While check-off dollars are an impor- by the Valgen Group and commissionedbeing matched by entities like Alberta tant source of funding for plant breeding,by Alberta Grains. It shows that fromGrains, SaskWheat, provincial com-University of Saskatchewan economist2012 to 2022, Alberta Grains, using itsmodity organizations, the list goes Stuart Smyth is part of a growing choruscheck-off funding model, invested overon. Were seeing a lot of Prairie-wide of industry stakeholders sounding the$37 millionequivalent to $41.7 mil- support for variety development that alarm: checkoffs likely cannot be thelion in 2023 dollars when adjusted forbenefits Alberta farmers.inflationwith every dollar invested inThat support is needed as the fed-variety development generating arounderal government gradually pulls back $3.80 of value.funding, something its been doing for You can see in the report thatdecades now.Alberts Grains got an exceptionally goodIn an ideal world, the federal govern-rate of return on the investments theyvement, whether its through AAFC or the National Research Council, would put in a little bit higher amount than theyve been putting in through the five-year research plans AAFC has been using now for just over 20 years, he says. But when you take inflation into account over the last 20 years, ultimately, the federal government is putting less money into variety development than they were 15 or 20 years ago. Why?At the federal level, theres a lot of demands on how public dollars are spent. Weve got health care, immigration, military spending, all these different categories. So, for agriculture to sit at the cabinet table and say, We need an extra $300 million, youve got to present a really robust case to say this investment will provide real benefits to Canadian agriculture and consumers as a whole, Smyth says.26 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA JANUARY 2025'