Maintaining the status quo won’t deliver competitiveness — only royalties on farm-saved seed and regulatory streamlining will, according to the lobby group.
Seeds Canada has fired its shot ahead of Ottawa’s next budget, telling the federal government that the old way of funding plant breeding is running out of road.
In its submission, Seeds Canada lays out two priorities it says can no longer be ignored. First, redirect scarce public dollars toward true public-good research — sustained by farm-saved seed royalties and tougher plant breeders’ rights, so breeding programs don’t wither. Second, cut the regulatory clutter: pull government back from the costly, low-risk oversight that bogs down agri-business without advancing health or safety.
“Many of our members rely on public varieties coming out of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,” says Lauren Comin, policy director at Seeds Canada. “AAFC has been the dominant player in cereals for decades — 90% of Canadian Western Red Spring wheat varieties trace back to their programs. That dominance means farmers and seed businesses alike currently depend on access to AAFC’s pipeline.”
With this upcoming budget, Comin says, Ottawa is signalling that the status quo is off the table. Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised austerity alongside selective investment. Few in the seed industry believe that means more money for variety development. “We know AAFC is going to be facing budget cuts,” Comin notes. “Research programs may come under more pressure relative to other priorities.”
A Structural Problem
The funding model is flawed, she says. AAFC varieties are developed with taxpayer money, but once released, farmers can replant them indefinitely without compensation to the breeder. Unlike in Europe or Australia, Canada has no effective mechanism to capture value from farm-saved seed and channel it back into research. Seeds Canada’s submission is blunt: the public system cannot carry the load forever.
Comin is clear-eyed: “We want to increase private investment, and that’s a goal of the government as well. But the current policy environment disincentivizes both Canadian and international entities from investing here. If we want farmers to have access to the best genetics from all over the world, that has to change.”
Seeds Canada proposes that AAFC place its new varieties into the Variety Use Agreement (VUA) — a royalty system that would generate revenue each time farm-saved seed is replanted. By their estimates, had AAFC entered varieties in the system when it launched in 2020, AAFC alone could have generated over $22 million in additional research investment.
“This isn’t about public versus private,” Comin insists. “Creating a policy environment where breeders are compensated for their intellectual property is going to help all breeders. In the near term, the majority of royalties, given AAFC’s dominance, would flow back into the public system. But it would also level the playing field so that private developers can bring innovation into Canada and see a return on their investment.”
Public Good, Private Role
There remains a case for public breeding, Comin acknowledges, particularly in niche crops that lack scale. “Smaller grain classes don’t have the same commercial base as canola or CWRS wheat. Supporting those through public programs is a legitimate public good.”
But elsewhere, Ottawa must create space for competition. That means not only enabling royalties but also paring back regulation. Variety registration, which requires government testing and merit evaluation, still relies heavily on AAFC’s overstretched network.
“If government insists on keeping regulatory hurdles in place, it has to acknowledge the resources required to support them,” Comin warns. “You cannot cut capacity and expect farmers to access new varieties efficiently.”
Ottawa faces competing demands: farmers wary of higher seed costs, public scientists defending their patch, and private investors demanding certainty. But Comin says her message is deliberately pragmatic. “When you approach government, they like you to come with solutions. We’re acknowledging the challenge. We’re saying: support public programs where there is a need, but also create an environment that attracts private capital. That way, we grow the pie.”
