November 2018

Reminder: Notice of Special Member Meeting

On August 7, 2018 we sent you a notice of a CSGA Special Member Meeting that is taking place Wednesday November 21^st at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The meeting will be held from 11:00am to 12:00pm in the Provencher room. The meeting is being held in conjunction with the inter-provincial seed growers meeting, which immediately precedes it. Those wishing to attend can register here.

The purpose of the Special Member Meeting is to seek member sanction of the CSGA Board of Directors decision of July 12^th, 2018 to change the end of the fiscal year of the Association from April 30^th to January 31^st.

The reason for the proposed change to the CSGA fiscal year end is to facilitate a more even distribution of workload throughout the CSGA operating year and to facilitate the production and distribution of the Association’s annual report and related financial statements well in advance of the Annual General Meeting.

More information about the by-laws of the Association can be found on CSGA’s website. If you wish to learn more about the proposed change or provide feedback, please contact Glyn Chancey, Executive Director at the CSGA at gchancey@seedgrowers.accuratedev.ca or (613) 236-0497, ext. 224.

AAFC and CFIA initiate consultations on potential new value creation models

On October 19, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) initiated a preliminary engagement process on a potential new funding mechanism for cereals research and variety development in Canada. The process includes four face-to-face meetings with invited stakeholders between mid-November and early December 2018, to be followed by an online engagement that will run through February 2019.  This engagement could potentially lead to a formal regulatory change process and implementation of supporting regulatory amendments as outlined in CFIA’s Forward Regulatory Plan as early as 2020. To read more about CFIA’s Forward Regulatory Plan (2018-2020), see here.

Both of the models being proposed for consideration are designed to generate additional revenue flows for breeders from farm saved seed and would be enabled through amendments to the Plant Breeders Rights Act Regulations. The proposed models are described by AAFC and CFIA as follows:

End point royalties: royalties collected on all harvested grain, including production from farm-saved seed, and distributed to plant breeders/rights holders.

Royalty collection enabled via production contracts: contractual restrictions on farm-saved seed use or royalty payments made directly to variety developers by producers for their farm-saved seed use.

Over the course of the last two and a half years, CSGA representatives have participated in a series of deliberations facilitated by AAFC’s Grains and Seeds Value Chain round tables. In Spring 2018, these deliberations gave rise to recommendations that the Government initiate the recently announced engagement process. In the intervening period, CSGA’s Board of Directors assessed the merits of the two options and came down in favour of the model where royalty collection is enabled by production contracts.

In arriving at this position, the Board drew on the results of economic impact analysis undertaken through the Seed Synergy Collaboration Project and other sources. This analysis shows that royalty collection enabled through production contracts would yield potentially higher returns to breeders than an End-Point Royalty model. Moreover it would do so with increased benefits and lower risk to the certified seed production system in Canada; translating into potentially more pedigreed seed use in crop types where common seed sales currently prevail. Another conclusion was the public and small private breeding firms would benefit disproportionately.

In preparation for the upcoming engagement, CSGA is working closely with other industry partners to ensure that the seed industry perspective is clearly and consistently conveyed to government over the course of the engagement period. This will include the development of a detailed response to the key questions being posed by AAFC and CFIA through the engagement including, how a production contract model could best be implemented. These positions will be shared with you as they are developed.

In the interim, should you be interested in participating in any of the planned face to face sessions, you are encouraged to contact Kyle Kierstead by email at Kyle.Kierstead@Canada.ca by November 2, 2018. Sessions are currently scheduled as follows:

• Winnipeg, MB – Friday, November 16, 2018 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Delta Hotels by Marriot Winnipeg, 350 St. Mary Avenue;
• Ottawa, ON – Friday, November 30, 2018 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Hilton Garden Inn Ottawa Airport, 2400 Alert Road;
• Saskatoon, SK – Tuesday, December 4, 2018 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Saskatoon Inn and Conference Centre, 2002 Airport Drive; and
• Edmonton, AB – Thursday, December 6, 2018 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel, 4236 36th Street.

Read the full news release outlining CSGA’s and Seed Synergy’s position on the consultation here.

Your input in CFIA’s annual survey helps bring improvements to the seed inspection system

Participating in CFIA’s annual survey on the Authorized Seed Crop Inspection Program is the best way for CSGA members to provide direct feedback on their level of satisfaction with the services received from licensed seed crop inspection services. The survey helps CFIA’s Seed Section deliver on its responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness of the program in achieving the objective of the production of high-quality pedigreed seed in Canada.

Please take a few moments to complete the survey by Friday November 23, 2018. Your responses will remain anonymous.

If you have any questions or other input please do not hesitate to contact CFIA at cfia.seed-semence.acia@canada.ca

Select seed and its multiplications

Did you know that not all Select seed has the same potential?

Select growers may produce Select seed from Select seed, but only for a maximum of five multiplications from Breeder seed.

For example, Breeder seed is eligible to produce Select Seed, 1^st Multiplication (1M).  When that 1M Select seed is planted, it is eligible to produce Select Seed, 2^nd Multiplication (2M), which can then go on to produce 3M Select Seed.  This trend continues all the way to 5M Select Seed.  Once that 5^th multiplication Select seed is planted, it is only eligible to produce Foundation seed.

On each Crop Certificate issued for Select seed, the multiplication of that seed is included in the comments on the bottom half of the page.  Select seed can be transferred between growers though, so if you don’t have a copy of the Crop Certificate, the multiplication of the seed is not obvious.

If you are selling or transferring Select seed to another grower, include the multiplication on the Select tag using the #M format described below. The current tag does not have a designated space for this information so we recommend including it along the right side.

1^st Multiplication – 1M

2^nd Multiplication – 2M

3^rd Multiplication – 3M

4^th Multiplication – 4M

5^th Multiplication – 5M

If you are planning to produce Select seed by planting another grower’s Select seed, make sure you know the multiplication of the parent seed.

If you are interested in producing Select seed yourself and you have never done so before, contact applications@seedgrowers.accuratedev.ca to find out if you are eligible to begin the probation period pursuant to becoming a Select grower.

How can CSGA help you market your carry-over seed?

CSGA’s National Pedigreed Seed Locator and Provincial seed guides are important marketing tools for seed growers and seed companies. Seed buyers turn to these resources to locate and purchase seed of the variety and class they need for their farming operation.

New this year, growers and crop certificate assignees can market carry-over seed available in these publications. To identify carry-over seed to CSGA for inclusion in these resources, we have produced a new form available in the Members’ Area website. Growers and crop certificate assignees will be asked to present a valid crop certificate number of the carry-over seed for validation. The carry-over seed is then presented under the name of the assignee or the name of the producer if the crop was not assigned to a third party.  A $25 fee per entry (per crop certificate) is applicable for this service.  Please check with your provincial seed guide publisher for cut off dates for the printed version of your provincial seed guide.