36 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2019 DISRUPTION,CHINA,ANDTHEUSMCA: NAVIGATINGTHEGLOBALTRADESPHERE A NEW TOOL HELPING YOU IN THE REALM OF RETAIL SEED SALES. Arming yourself with knowledge can help your business weather the trade storms that pop up on a seemingly daily basis. Marc Zienkiewicz Brian Innes Vice-President Public Affairs Canola Council of Canada Ottawa, Ont. Brian joined the Canola Council in 2011 as market access manager. He concentrated on market access and government relations with a special focus on international trade. Brian also has experience working with government from previous roles in Ottawa. He is also president of the Canadian Agri- Food Trade Alliance. By now, everyone working in Canadian seed knows about the situation with China and our canola. Can you illustrate how important our canola is to the world and China? What are the Canola Council and its partners doing about it? Our efforts in China have focused on long-term relationships. Relationships are critical in trade-related issues like this. This is especially important in Asia and China itself, because the first step in tackling a problem is understanding what’s going on, who’s involved and why. We need to understand from the indus- try’s perspective what the industry is facing in China and why. Gathering that intel- ligence helps us better understand why it’s happening and how to deal with it. Should Canadian seed growers and plant breeders be concerned? The demand in China hasn’t changed over- night and neither has the way our customers see the product. This disruption hasn’t been caused by market fundamentals — those remain strong. I wouldn’t say our situa- tion presents a risk that’s detrimental to the future, but it uncertainty is affecting us and canola-related businesses going forward. Have the pests China claims it’s found in shipments of Canadian canola seed actually been named? The pests china has identified as being of quarantine significance have been named publicly on their website and in notices sent to Canada. Five weeds have been alleged to have been detected and two pathogens, one of which is blackleg. What can retailers do to assist in this problem? Many in the seed industry have coun- terparts in China. Helping our Chinese counterparts understand the impact of the current situation is very helpful. What we have seen happen in Canada is a coming together of the value chain. The seed industry is a part of that — maintaining support for those suffering from the uncer- tainty and banding together and seeing this as a collective problem are helpful. “HELPINGOURCHINESE COUNTERPARTSUNDERSTANDTHE IMPACTOFTHECURRENTSITUATION ISVERYHELPFUL.” –BrianInnes