Lowe Farm farmer Butch Harder told the seed growers’ meeting he opposes additional royalties for cereal breeders, calling the plan a “seed tax.”

The ‘value capture’ conundrum

A proposal to better compensate cereal breeders will almost certainly cost farmers more 
either when they buy seed or when they deliver grain to the elevator

Some call it a cereals ‘seed tax’ while others say it’s an investment in improved varieties. Either way, Canadian farmers face paying more for new varieties, or when they deliver the crop, if one of two proposed new “value capture” models is implemented by the federal government in 2019. “We want Canada to continue to

Craig Koenig, CFIA’s regional chief inspector for Manitoba, told a Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association meeting his staff are willing to work with private pedigreed seed inspectors to help them do a better job.

Privatized seed inspection sore point for growers

Critics say the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is treating Manitoba differently than other provinces, but add it can fix the problem by working more closely with private inspectors

Manitoba pedigreed seed growers say they’re being held to a more rigid standard than farmers in other provinces. The complaints, levelled at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) were raised at a Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association (MSGA) meeting here Nov. 30. The allegations, which CFIA officials denied, come from some seed growers and companies providing


Spring seeding is ramping up in Manitoba as farmers still have no good answers on what to plant. Rosebank Farms was seeding wheat west of Miami April 29. Moist soil conditions saw little dust flying. Field activity was expected to build this week if the weather continued to co-operate.

Wheat weakness brings seeding uncertainty

Producers aren’t happy when they look at wheat futures forecasts, 
but their seeding options might be limited

Low prices, high global supply and a near-record high on U.S. wheat carry-over have some Manitoba producers scratching their heads on what to put into the ground. “If you look at almost anything, nothing really looks overly good, in my opinion anyway,” Doug Heaman, a Virden seed grower and board member of the Manitoba Seed

Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association president Ray Askin (l) presented the association 2016 Outstanding Service award to Robert Stevenson of Kenton who was accompanied by his daughter Eva.

MSGA recognizes long-term supporter

Robert Stevenson was given the Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association Outstanding Service award

A Kenton-area farmer is the recipient of the Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association’s 2016 Outstanding Service award. Robert Stevenson was recognized last week in Winnipeg at the annual CropConnect conference. Stevenson served as a Manitoba director on the Canadian Seed Growers Association (CSGA) board for six years from 2003 to 2009. During that time he sat


The Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA) and Manitoba Corn Growers Association will share a general manager. MWBGA president Fred Greig says it will benefit both organizations.

Manitoba corn, wheat and barley growers to share new general manager

The two organizations will remain independent but say their members 
can be better served by co-operating on administration

Two Manitoba farm commodity groups are putting talk about collaboration into action by sharing a general manager. The Manitoba Corn Growers Association (MCGA) and Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA) are looking for a new general manager to administer both associations when corn growers’ general manager Theresa Bergsma retires next June, after almost 29

Fresh off the field

Fresh off the field

With winter cereal seeding season upon us, here’s the 2016 MCVET winter cereal yield data

In Manitoba, interest in fall rye is increasing, with 112,000 acres seeded the fall of 2015. Although winter wheat acres have declined in recent years, there are still very strong economic and agronomic arguments to be made for including winter wheat in rotation. There are a number of newer winter wheat and fall rye varieties,


Daryl Beswitherick, the Canadian Grain Commission’s (CGC) program manager for quality assurance standards, says it’s important for farmers to know what wheat varieties they are growing and what class they belong in so they aren’t declared incorrectly at the elevator.

New Canada Northern Hard Red wheat class took effect Aug. 1

The West’s ninth milling wheat class is the new home for Faller, Prosper and Elgin ND

Big changes to Western Canada’s wheat class system took effect Aug. 1, the start of the 2016-17 crop year, and more are coming over the next three years. They’re designed to enhance Canada’s reputation for high-quality, high-gluten-strength milling wheat, while giving farmers the opportunity to grow higher-yielding wheats that have slightly lower strength, Daryl Beswitherick,

Find out the type of Plant Breeders’ Rights a variety has and who has those rights at  cdnseed.org/library/crop-kinds-database.

What you can do to comply with seed laws

The first step is buying certified seed, the second is documenting it

The simplest way for farmers to avoid breaching Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) rules, including under the newly implemented UPOV ’91, is to buy certified seed, says Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA). What constitutes a breach? It boils down to buying seed that doesn’t return a royalty to the variety’s


New Plant Breeders’ Rights rules under UPOV ’91 give seed companies the option of tracking down those who infringe on those rights through the entire grain system. Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, says pedigreed seed growers need to help communicate the new regulations to their farmer-customers.

Tracking down illicit seed sellers

Private investigators are helping the seed trade 
enforce plant breeders’ rights

Undercover private investigators are helping nab seed dealers suspected of contravening Canadian Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) regulations, the executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA) says. Lorne Hadley told the Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association’s annual meeting in Winnipeg Dec. 10 his agency has co-ordinated 70 investigations resulting in “a number of cases going

rye seed

2015 MCVET winter wheat, fall rye data released

Farmers can use this data to make head-to-head comparisons of varietal performance at specific sites

Since 2008, MCVET (Manitoba Crop Variety Evaluation Team) has been publishing winter cereal data collected from its trials shortly after harvest to help farmers and seed growers in Manitoba make variety decisions. In 2015, data is being released for five locations — Boissevain, Carman, Melita, Roblin and Winnipeg — for winter wheat and fall rye.