With combines winding down and major regulatory changes approaching, the Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association is preparing for decisions that could reshape the Canadian seed industry.

Harvest has a way of shrinking the seed world to the size of a field.

In the weeks leading up to the printing of Seed World Canada’s November issue, members of the Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association (MSGA) have largely been occupied with combines, weather and getting crops safely into the bin. Meetings slowed. Policy discussions have briefly taken a back seat to the immediate demands of the season.

“We’ve kind of all been in our own little bubbles lately with harvest going on,” says MSGA Vice-President Tracy Court, a seed grower from Plumas, Man.

Outside those bubbles, however, Canada’s seed system is undergoing some of its biggest changes in decades. Seed regulatory modernization is moving closer to proposed regulations. Questions are emerging about the future of merit testing for several crop types. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is reducing staff and closing research facilities, including its satellite research farm at Portage la Prairie. At the same time, industry organizations are considering new approaches to seed certification, inspection and governance.

For an association founded in 1928, the challenge is not simply whether the system should change. It is deciding what must be protected as it does. But easier cannot mean less dependable.

Nearly a Century of Seed

The MSGA was established almost a century ago, when Canada was building many of the institutions that would come to underpin the modern pedigreed seed system.

Today, the incorporated non-profit represents approximately 680 pedigreed seed growers. In 2025, its members produced about 315,095 acres of pedigreed seed across more than 22 crop kinds. Manitoba’s broader seed industry contributes an estimated $700 million to the provincial economy, according to the association.

Its purpose has remained remarkably consistent: represent seed growers, promote certified seed and help move improved genetics from plant breeders into farmers’ fields.

The practical meaning of that mission, however, has expanded. Today, it includes participating in national policy discussions, supporting education and grower development, advocating for the seed quality assurance system and helping Manitoba farmers interpret an increasingly complex variety marketplace.

One of its most visible contributions is Seed Manitoba, produced through the Manitoba Crop Variety Evaluation Team (MCVET) in partnership with Seed World Group, Manitoba Agriculture and other industry organizations. The seed guide delivers independent, standardized performance information collected through replicated trials across the province. That work is central to the issue now occupying MSGA Executive Director Jennifer Seward.

Faster Registration, But What About the Data?

Canada’s variety registration system divides regulated crop kinds into three parts. Part I requires pre-registration testing and an assessment of merit. Part II requires testing without merit assessment.

Part III requires only the basic registration requirements. A proposal being discussed within the seed sector would move several crop kinds — potentially including field peas, lentils, flax, grain triticale and grain rye — from Part I to Part III. Such a move could shorten the path to registration by eliminating the mandatory preregistration testing and merit assessment currently required for those crops.

Seward stresses that this remains a developing industry discussion, not a finalized government decision. The MSGA is following it closely rather than positioning itself reflexively for or against it.

“We don’t see it really happening right away,” she says. “But with the government’s interest in reducing red tape and trying to get technology to producers quicker, it might.”

There is a legitimate case for moving faster. Manitoba pea growers, for example, have faced disease, quality and market challenges. Varieties with stronger disease packages could be valuable, and a more flexible registration pathway might help breeders bring them forward sooner.

The concern is what happens after the registration barrier is lowered.

“Our members have to think about the consequences of no merit testing on some of those crop types,” Seward says. 

That question reaches beyond seed growers. Commercial farmers depend on regional evidence when choosing varieties for their own farms. A variety may be legally registered and commercially available, but that does not tell a grower how it performs in Manitoba’s soils, weather and disease environment.

Moving a crop to Part III would not end independent testing, but it would no longer be required before a variety is registered. Regional trial programs, commodity groups or seed companies would then have to decide who conducts the testing and who pays for it. Seward worries this could weaken the independent review that currently helps protect farmers under the Part I system.

That presents a difficult problem for MCVET. The program currently tests registered varieties and compiles yield, agronomic, disease and quality information for Seed Manitoba. On average, it evaluates about 23 major and minor crop types annually through trials conducted under standardized protocols.

“In the case of MCVET, we don’t test anything that’s not registered,” Seward says. “If we’re asked to test things and give ratings on things that aren’t registered, who’s going to pay for that? Because we’re already borderline cost recovery right now.”

That may be the defining policy question for MSGA heading into its centennial: if Canada removes a layer of mandatory testing to accelerate innovation, who takes responsibility for producing the trusted information farmers still require?

For Seward, speed and evidence should not be treated as opposing goals. New varieties can reach farmers sooner, but the industry must determine how credible, comparable regional data will follow them into the marketplace.

Modernization Moves Closer

The broader seed regulatory modernization (SRM) process began in 2020 and has involved working groups, technical teams and several rounds of consultation.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the modernization is intended to reduce administrative burden, improve competitiveness and innovation, and continue protecting farmers, consumers and the environment. Feedback from the final informal consultation on Parts I, III and IV of the Seeds Regulations is now being used to draft regulatory amendments for publication in the Canada Gazette, Part I.

Court has participated in one of the cereal working groups, helping reconsider field standards for crop inspection and seed production. She sees opportunities to remove duplication and make the system more practical for growers. Yet she also recognizes how difficult it is to isolate unnecessary red tape from functions that quietly provide value.

“It’s complex,” she says. “It’s hard to really narrow down where the redundancy is in the system and what we’re losing.”

That distinction matters to an organization whose members operate at the point where policy becomes physical. A policy that appears simple on paper can change how a seed field is inspected, which varieties a grower is willing to multiply and what information is ultimately available to a farmer buying seed.

“I think there are some really big changes coming that are going to affect seed growers,” Court says about SRM.

“It’s going to reduce some of the burden and make things a little bit easier.”

Manitoba’s Turn to Convene

This fall, MSGA will bring provincial seed grower leaders and industry representatives to Winnipeg for the annual seed grower interprovincial meeting. An industry day is scheduled for Nov. 25 at The Inn at the Forks, with Manitoba hosting discussions about the changes confronting seed growers nationwide.

Court says the gathering will give provincial boards a chance to compare experiences and test ideas against perspectives from across the country.

“We want to really hear some feedback from the other provincial boards, throw some ideas out there and bounce them around the room and see what comes back at us,” she says. “It’s always a good opportunity to hear from other people across the country about what kind of issues they’re facing.”