Plant breeding Archives - Page 3 of 12

Non-royalty wheats will continue to be an option

Industry officials say seed companies are unlikely to deregister varieties to limit farmers’ choices in an effort to collect more royalty money

By Allan Dawson December 7, 2018

If new proposed cereal royalties are implemented farmers will pay more for seed, but they can also choose to grow varieties not covered by the new regulations. That’s according to Plant Breeders’ Rights Commissioner Anthony Parker. But for how long? At least 2021 and probably longer, says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which oversees seed

Farmers pay royalties on certified seed, but the seed industry says it’s an insufficient amount because farmers sow such a high percentage of farm-saved seed.

Crops, News

NFU rejects proposed cereal seed royalties

It says the seed industry wants more money from farmers with no guarantees it will make farmers better off

By Allan Dawson November 30, 2018

Proposals for new royalties on cereal seed, if adopted, will extract more money from Canadian farmers without guaranteeing they’ll benefit, according to Terry Boehm. He is chair of the National Farmers Union’s (NFU) seeds committee and a former NFU president. “This is the end-game,” Boehm, who farms bear Colonsay, Sask., told reporters during a telephone

Farmers say they understand research costs money, they just want to know that’s where their dollars will go.

Crops, Local news

Farmers say no to ‘blank cheque’ on seed royalties

If seed companies don’t reinvest they risk going out of business, said Plant Breeders’ Rights Commissioner Anthony Parker

By Allan Dawson November 30, 2018

Some farmers are willing to pay more in royalties to encourage cereal crop breeding — but they don’t want to sign a blank cheque. “We’re not really clear on how much money this is going to generate for plant breeders and the industry as a whole, and there are a lot of concerns that it’s

Thanks to public breeding, Western Canadian wheat yield gains due to improved seed varieties increased 0.7 per cent per year between 1991 and 2012.

Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Getting it right

By Gord Gilmour November 29, 2018

It’s early in the winter farm meeting season but already seed royalties are promising to be one of the year’s evergreen topics. That’s hardly surprising, after all, seed is a fundamental building block for any grain farm. It’s also something that’s seen a lot of changes over the past few decades. Most of the crops

One proposal is that an end point royalty would be collected when farmers sold their cereal crop.

Local news, News

Seed royalty consultation needs farmer engagement

KAP president Bill Campbell says farmers need to pay attention because the outcome will affect their bottom lines

By Allan Dawson November 23, 2018

Farmers need to get involved in the cereal seed royalty debate, says Bill Campbell. “This does affect our livelihoods down the road and for future generations so we have to get engaged,” the president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) said in an interview following the first of four consultation meetings on the issue held

Local news, News

KAP passes resolutions on seed royalties

Delegates are apprehensive about changing the system and want to preserve publicly funded plant breeding

By Allan Dawson November 23, 2018

The Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) doesn’t have a policy on proposed new royalties for cereal seed, but delegates passed two resolutions at their advisory council meeting Nov. 12 offering some direction. The first says KAP should lobby to have federal government oversight and a periodic review if one of the proposed new royalty schemes is

Local news, News, Other

Deadline Nov. 2 to register for seed royalty meetings

The proposal is for farmers pay more for seed, but the proponents say the payoff is better varieties

By Allan Dawson November 1, 2018

The deadline register to attend meetings to discuss ways for farmers to pay more for cereal and pulse seed so plant breeders have more money to develop superior varieties is Friday Nov. 2. The consultations being led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) focuses on two options —

News, Other

Seed industry applauds PBR consultations

Sessions will be held in four cities — including Winnipeg — with seed growers and other groups

By Alex Binkley October 22, 2018

Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be consulting with seed trade groups in the coming weeks on proposed Plant Breeders’ Rights Regulations released in April. Those sessions in Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Ottawa will be followed up with sessions in November that will include the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Grain Growers of

News, Other

Consultation on plant variety royalty options soon starting

The seed sector says the goal is encouraging more plant-breeding investment in Canada

By Allan Dawson October 16, 2018

Federal government consultations on ways to encourage more investment in plant breeding will start this fall, says Todd Hyra, president of the Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) and SeCan’s business manager for Western Canada. “It’s really about how to generate investment for plant breeders, incent investment by new innovators that want to come to Canada

Opinion

Opinion: Clarifying ‘What’s in a name?’

By Sandi Knight May 1, 2018

Science has always led the way in agriculture, and continues to do so today. Yet advances in plant breeding are being met with skepticism, fear and vehement opposition by many consumers. Perhaps we aren’t listening closely enough to their concerns. Because we understand the science, we assumed they would too. We’ve failed in telling our

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: Chicago cattle futures climb on post-Thanksgiving trade

U.S. grains: Corn futures set June high on US export demand

California researchers create nitrogen-fixing wheat

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