Making a Case for End Point Royalties
Could the varieties farmers choose help determine where future plant breeding investment goes?
In On The Brink, Season 3, Episode 5, Sarah Weigum of Alect Seeds makes the case for end point royalties as a way to connect farmer demand with funding for variety development. The proposal would return a small payment on delivered grain to the developers behind the varieties farmers grow.
The argument centres on giving farmers a clear view of what they would pay, allowing public and private breeders to receive a return, and directing more funding toward programs whose varieties farmers choose.
How the proposed model would work
Under the model described in the episode, a royalty would be collected on grain deliveries and returned to variety developers. Farmers would know the amount payable per tonne, while developers could connect their revenue to the share of the market their varieties earn.
As a variety gains adoption, more money would flow to the program behind it. Weigum argues that this would give breeders a reason to keep reinvesting in Western Canadian crops.
“We want farmers to be able to vote with their dollars,” Weigum says.
For farmers, that is the central idea: the choice of what to grow would also influence which breeding programs receive funding.
A return for public and private developers
Weigum argues that an end point royalty should allow both public institutions and private firms to receive revenue from the varieties they develop.
In that model, funding would follow the use of a variety regardless of the type of organization behind it. Weigum presents this as a way to support continued variety development while keeping farmer demand central to the system.
The episode points to Australia as an example. In Weigum’s view, its end point royalty system has supported ongoing investment in breeding and a continuing supply of new genetics for farmers.
Building the system together
The next step, Weigum argues, is a conversation that brings farm groups and crop commissions together with seed growers and genetics companies.
No single part of the industry has all the answers. A workable approach would need those groups to see one another as partners and help shape how the system operates.
That leaves a practical question for Canadian agriculture: how could breeding investment respond more directly to the varieties farmers value, while making the cost and flow of funding clear?
Subscribe To On The Brink
On the Brink is a cross-country storytelling project about plant breeding in Canada. The goal is to spark an open, multi-perspective, ongoing conversation about what’s possible, what’s at stake, and how to seize opportunities ahead. On the Brink releases new episodes every Wednesday. Watch Episode 6 featuring Andrew Campbell and subscribe to have future episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
More Episodes
Be Part of this Conversation
We need your help to grow and evolve this conversation!
- Nominate individuals you think should be part of the On the Brink video series. Know someone who would add to the conversation? Email us at OnTheBrink@seedworldgroup.com
- Help expand the conversation by liking and sharing weekly episodes across LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and Facebook.
