Facebook-f Instagram Linkedin Youtube
CONTACT

ADVERTISE

Subscribe
Seed World
Could farmers’ variety choices help direct the next round of plant breeding investment? In On The Brink, Season 3, Episode 5, Sarah Weigum of Alect Seeds makes the case for end point royalties. Under the model described, a small payment on delivered grain would return funding to variety developers. As farmers choose a variety more often, the breeding program behind it would receive more funding. Weigum explains why the system should make costs clear to farmers, provide a return for public and private developers, and encourage continued investment in Western Canadian crops. Australia is discussed as an example, alongside the need for farm groups, crop commissions, seed growers and genetics companies to shape a Canadian approach together. Watch “Making a Case for End Point Royalties.” 📌 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insights on the latest in the seed industry!   📌   📌 About Seed World Group (SWG): Seed World Group is a handpicked team of strategists, storytellers and marketers. We’ve been serving the seed industry since 1991 and today have staff spread across North America Europe, LATAM and beyond. With our two divisions — Seed World CREATE and Seed World Media – we are able to deliver highly focused consulting, strategic solutions, digital tools and content shared via a suite of global seed sector media channels. Our goal is to connect people to people across the seed sector, locally, regionally and globally. Interested in learning more? Visit www.seedworldgroup.com. ▬ Website & Social Media ▬▬▬▬▬ ► Website: https://seedworldgroup.com/ ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seedworldgroup ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/seedworldgroup ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeedWorldGroup Making a Case for End Point Royalties | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 5
How can plant breeding deliver value on the farm and generate enough support to keep innovation moving? In Season 3, Episode 4 of On The Brink, Kelly Barany shares her perspective as a seed grower with Chin Ridge Seeds and a director on the RDAR board. She discusses the time and effort farmers invest when adopting a new technology, the challenge of getting varieties into farmers’ hands sooner, and the need for funding models that support continued breeding. Barany also calls for a closer look at what farms need from new varieties. Alongside yield, she points to traits such as lower fertilizer requirements and improved disease or insect resistance. She raises endpoint royalties as one potential funding model for the industry to examine. Chapters 00:00 Kelly Barany’s perspective across seed production and research funding 00:35 The farm-level cost of adopting innovation 01:10 Shortening timelines and supporting plant breeding 01:52 Assessing farm needs beyond yield Subscribe for more conversations about the people, choices, and ideas shaping plant breeding and the seed industry. 📌 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insights on the latest in the seed industry!   📌   📌 About Seed World Group (SWG): Seed World Group is a handpicked team of strategists, storytellers and marketers. We’ve been serving the seed industry since 1991 and today have staff spread across North America Europe, LATAM and beyond. With our two divisions — Seed World CREATE and Seed World Media – we are able to deliver highly focused consulting, strategic solutions, digital tools and content shared via a suite of global seed sector media channels. Our goal is to connect people to people across the seed sector, locally, regionally and globally. Interested in learning more? Visit www.seedworldgroup.com. ▬ Website & Social Media ▬▬▬▬▬ ► Website: https://seedworldgroup.com/ ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seedworldgroup ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/seedworldgroup ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeedWorldGroup Where Should We Place Our Bets? Breeding for the Bottom Line | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 4
Farmers want new varieties that outperform what they grow today. But developing a better variety is only the beginning. It also needs credible testing, a way to fund future breeding and enough seed production capacity to reach the farm. In this Seed World Canada Retail Strategy discussion, Todd Hyra of SeCan, seed growers Mark Keating and Greg Stamp, and Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association president Nick Petruic examine what could strengthen — or slow — that journey. They discuss what makes a new variety worth its cost, why retailers need dependable performance data, whether Canada’s marketplace rewards varieties built for specific regions, and why seed increase work at Indian Head matters to farmers. Watch for a practical look at what it takes to turn better genetics into seed farmers can use. What Could Slow the Next Great Seed Variety?
Plant breeders make decisions today that farmers may not see in the field for another five to 10 years. Michel McElroy, a plant breeder and researcher at CÉROM, explains how genomics is helping shorten that timeline and accelerate winter wheat breeding in Quebec. When McElroy arrived at CÉROM 10 years ago, winter wheat accounted for about 10% of Quebec’s cereal acreage. He says that share has since tripled as growers look for a valuable third crop in the rotation. Genomic tools can now help breeders complete some selection work in roughly five years instead of 10. But faster technology is only part of the answer. McElroy argues that if new varieties are treated as a public good, research centres, universities and other public-interest programs need sustained investment to build a reliable variety pipeline for Canadian agriculture. Watch Michel McElroy in On The Brink, Season 3, Episode 3: “Don’t Breed for Today: What Could Winter Wheat Become?” Learn more about CÉROM: https://cerom.qc.ca/en/ Explore On The Brink: https://www.seedworld.com/canada/on-the-brink/ 📌 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more insights on the latest in the seed industry!   📌   📌 About Seed World Group (SWG): Seed World Group is a handpicked team of strategists, storytellers and marketers. We’ve been serving the seed industry since 1991 and today have staff spread across North America Europe, LATAM and beyond. With our two divisions — Seed World CREATE and Seed World Media – we are able to deliver highly focused consulting, strategic solutions, digital tools and content shared via a suite of global seed sector media channels. Our goal is to connect people to people across the seed sector, locally, regionally and globally. Interested in learning more? Visit www.seedworldgroup.com. ▬ Website & Social Media ▬▬▬▬▬ ► Website: https://seedworldgroup.com/ ► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seedworldgroup ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/seedworldgroup ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeedWorldGroup Don't Breed for Today. What Could Winter Wheat Become? | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 3
As Canada scales back public agricultural research, young scientists are facing questions that extend beyond their next job. Is there still a place for them to build a career here—or will they have to look elsewhere? In a new episode of the Seed World podcast, Ben Erickson reflects on that uncertainty and what it could mean for the future of Canadian plant breeding. See, he wasn’t planning on going back to school. After graduating from the University of Guelph with distinction, Erickson joined the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) soybean breeding program in Ottawa, Ont., spending two years working on food-grade soybeans, climate-smart cropping systems and genomic breeding tools. Then, in 2025, major cuts to AAFC research facilities were announced to meet federal budget saving targets. “This was the event that influenced me to return to my studies,” he says. For Erickson, the cuts ultimately led to a new opportunity. But his experience also raises a larger question: when early-career researchers encounter fewer paths forward in Canada, where will they go to pursue their work? Today, Erickson is pursuing a master’s of science at McGill University, tackling one of soybean breeding’s most persistent problems: developing durable resistance to Sclerotinia stem rot. White mould is among Canada’s most economically damaging diseases in soybean, canola and pulse crops, with severe outbreaks causing yield losses of 50% or more. For breeders, the challenge is finding plants that remain resistant against genetically diverse pathogen populations. Rather than screening soybean lines against a single fungal isolate, he is evaluating 34 lines against 10 genetically distinct isolates collected across the country. Combined with genomic data, the work could identify stable resistance and provide breeders with useful parent lines, candidate genes and improved screening methods—the kind of expertise Canada will need to retain as agricultural challenges grow more complex. When Tanya Copley hired him at the Centre de recherche sur les grains inc. (CÉROM), she knew about his extensive field experience but was struck by how quickly he adapted to laboratory work. McGill professor Jacqueline Bede sees broader potential in his work. She says Erickson’s “matrix” approach — testing soybean resistance against multiple pathogen isolates from across Canada — could generate insights useful not only for soybean breeding, but for disease-resistance research in other crops. Whether researchers like Erickson will be able to build their futures in Canada remains an open question. In the podcast, he speaks candidly about the changing research landscape, what continues to draw him to public plant breeding and how far he may be willing to go to find his next opportunity. Listen to the full Seed World podcast episode to hear Erickson’s perspective on what Canada stands to lose—and what might convince the next generation of plant breeders to stay. Could Research Cuts Push Canada’s Young Plant Breeders Elsewhere?

FEATURES

Play Button

Making a Case for End Point Royalties | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 5

Play Button

Where Should We Place Our Bets? Breeding for the Bottom Line | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 4

Play Button

What Got Us Here Won’t Get Us There | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 3

Play Button

What Got Us Here Won’t Get Us There | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 2

Play Button

Designed To Thrive | Welcome To On The Brink: Season 3

Play Button

When Action is the Only Option | On The Brink: Season 2 – Episode 16

ADVERTISEMENT

EXCLUSIVES

Play Button

Canada Makes Its Case to Global Seed Investors

Play Button

Sustainability is Already Built Into Canadian Farming

Play Button

Genetic Markers – Why Nick Stratford’s Blood Type Might be ‘P’ For Policy

Play Button

Hot Takes: 10 Years to Breed, Five Years to Fund

Play Button

Get Ready to Meet the Future of Seed Innovation

Play Button

One-Word Answers That Define 60 Years of Chin Ridge Seeds

SHORTS

Check Out the Demo Plots at SeedNet
Why the Best Builds Don't Begin with Blueprints
A Call for Plant Breeding Unity
Sneak Peek into Keating Seed Corp
Why 20/20 Seed Labs is Investing in Field-Level Trials
Why Seed Certification Creates a Level Playing Field
Stronger Seeds, Stronger Crops
Why Chefs and Breeders Should be at the Same Table
Check out what SGS is doing now…
Agtiv IGNITE!
ADVERTISEMENT

C-SUITE

Play Button

On the Spot – Doug Says It Straight: What Canada’s Seed System Really Needs

Play Button

Rethinking Seed: In Conversation with Brent Collins

Play Button

Goverstry or Bust

Play Button

Policy, But Make It Interesting: Lauren Comin Rises to the Challenge

Play Button

Public vs Private Plant Breeding: What’s the Middle Ground? 

Play Button

Check out what SGS is doing now…

GLOBAL

Play Button

How KWS Is Creating Seeds For The Future

Play Button

Who Decides the Future of Europe’s Ag Sector?

MOST POPULAR

Play Button

Making a Case for End Point Royalties | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 5

Play Button

Where Should We Place Our Bets? Breeding for the Bottom Line | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 4

Play Button

What Could Slow the Next Great Seed Variety?

Play Button

What Got Us Here Won’t Get Us There | On The Brink: Season 3, Episode 3

Play Button

The Case for One Digital Platform for Seed Retailers and Farmers

Play Button

Could Research Cuts Push Canada’s Young Plant Breeders Elsewhere?

Load More
Region
Topic
Author
Date
Region
Topic
Author
Date