MARCH 2019 GERMINATION.CA 63 Why do we need value creation? Isn’t our current system working fine? Something needs to change. Canada invests less than most of our major wheat export competitors and will only fall further behind unless there is more plant breeding investment. Canadian agricultural organiza- tions have been considering various options for up to 10 years, so this is not a new idea. Is this concept being driven by big multinationals? No. Canada is mainly dependant on public and smaller private breeding programs for new innovation in cereals. These programs will be the major beneficiaries. Do I have to participate? No. Only new varieties protected under Canada’s new Plant Breeders’ Rights Act are eligible to collect royalties on farm-saved seed, and it is up to the breeder to decide whether their variety will participate. Will my existing varieties be taken away? No. Existing varieties will continue to be made available without farm-saved seed royalties for as long as demand exists. Will my cost of production go up? No. Increased investment in plant breeding is the best way to reduce cost of produc- tion for farmers. Isn’t value creation an affront to a farmer’s right to save seed? No. Value creation is a means of strength- ening our seed system. Diverting grain for use as seed doesn’t ensure a strong pedi- greed seed system. When a farmer claims to grow seed on his farm, he’s essentially diverting grain he’s grown and using it as seed. He doesn’t go to the operational or record-keeping lengths that seed growers do and is not required to do the testing for quality and grade required for pedi- greed seed. He’s simply taking some grain, cleaning it, putting it in a bin and if it germinates, he uses it for seed. That’s not what a seed grower does. What’s the difference? A seed grower selects the field based on Lorne Hadley, Executive Director, Canadian Plant Technology Agency Lorne has worked with several clients — on a national and international level — to provide knowledge on seed market regulations, intellectual property, contract considerations and Plant Breeders’ Rights issues. its history to make sure when he plants a variety, there is no chance or limited chance of volunteers of a different variety growing there. They supervise the field and physically remove plants that don’t look like the variety they planted. They’re making sure the variety of the crop they’re growing is consistent with the variety they planted. They put it in a clean bin and that bin is tracked from start to finish. Then there are requirements for testing and grading to make sure that’s a sample of that particular lot is free from anything that would disqualify it for use of pedi- greed seed. Farm-saved seed really does nothing to support plant breeders and has nothing to do with the concept of value creation. They are two different issues. But isn’t this double-dipping, making farmers pay twice for seed? No. Farmers will do everything they normally do. Under a Seed Variety Use Agreement, for example, the farmer would sign a contract saying if they divert grain for use as seed they pay for that use. But they don’t pay until they’ve tried it and see there’s value in growing it again. Farmers are already doing something similar. A farmer doesn’t take 100% of their acres and put it into a new variety. He or she may have three varieties of a crop growing on their farm: one they really trust, one they’ve tried and aren’t sure about yet and one they are growing for the first time. Farmers are making com- parisons all the time, and the one that fits their operation is the one they divert grain to use as seed the next year. Under value creation, that farmer is simply rewarding the breeder fairly for his or her innovation. But aren’t breeders being paid fairly now? No. Imagine growing a crop under con- tract for several years and only being paid for your grain from the first harvest. For all subsequent years, you are expected to grow that crop for free. That’s basically what breeders are doing right now — being paid only for a single purchase of the seed they worked so hard to design. “DIVERTINGGRAINFOR USEASSEEDDOESN’T ENSUREASTRONG PEDIGREEDSEED SYSTEM.” –LorneHadley