b'Why is the formation of Seeds Canada signifi- How does regulatory modernization factor cant for you from a branding perspective? into this for you?SeCan is a great case study to show howAs we look forward to seed regulatory an industry organization can help its mem- modernization, I think Seeds Canada is bers do things better. As individual seedreally going to be the go-to organization Jeff Reid brands we cant be successful all on ourto help direct that. For so many years we Seeds Canada Boardown. SeCan is an organization of abouttalked about variety registration, and it Member/SeCan CEO 600 member companies across Canada.seemed like growers and the trade were Jeff has spent the past 33One thing that our members continuallyon different pages, but in actual fact, we years in the seed industry intell us that theyre reliant on is that flow ofwere just talking about different crops and various rolesfrom researchnew varieties and innovation that con- we were kind of talking past each other. and development, to salestinue to allow them to be profitable in theWe were in different rooms when we were and marketing managementseed business. Were very dependent onhaving those discussions.working in every majormaking sure we have an environment out Canadian field crop. there that really encourages innovation inCan you give us an example of how being in both the public and private sector that willthe same room can have real benefits?allow us to have access to great genetics,It wasnt until 2015 that Canada adopted and in turn, allow our member companiesUPOV 91. It took us almost a quarter-to thrive down the road.century to sign on, but finally we did Our top goal is accessing those leadingit because we banded together as an channels. Its hard to believe, but SeCanindustry to really see the benefits. I hate commercializes genetics from 67 differentto think well be 25 years late in adopt-breeding programs. So, it makes it verying the next incarnation of UPOV. Then challenging to go out and make all thosetheres midge-tolerant wheat. The reason connections and build our business with- I think we were able to come up with a out one central organization that allowsreally workable solution is that there was you to go and speak with all those peoplereally good buy-in among seed growers at one time.and the seed trade, the analysts, the CPTA and CSI. Everyone played a role to make What do you feel are some other spinoff ben- that a reality. efits are from an operational perspective? Value creation is a big one where I Were always looking at accessing seed- think industry unity can be a benefit. Low-POLLS related technology and systems, be it seedlevel presence, post patent technologies, treatment, testing and processing equip- and of course, seed regulatory moderniza-Some insights gleaned during ourment, and so on. Seeds Canada will reallytion, which is the big one that has already recent Retail Roundtable webinar! be a forum for all of those kinds of tech- begun. These are things that are really nologies going forward. Training and edu- going to have big impacts on our future as Had you heard of Seeds Canadacation are big. You know, as much as all ofan industry and those around the Seeds before today?us are looking to build our brand, becomeCanada table are going to be in on the 10% more professional and be better at whatground floor when those issues are being we do, were always looking for bettershaped in ways which will have major education and continuous improvement.long term impacts on our industry. Thats particularly true for smaller compa-nies. Intellectual property protection and 90% management of intellectual property is something that is also a huge concern forTo view our full-length webinar on this very topic, visit everyone in the seed sector, so having thisgermination.ca/get-a-sneak-peek-at-our-new-national-Yes No integrated within Seeds Canada is going toseed-org/be hugely helpful.SUPPORTED BY: ENDORSED BY:46GERMINATION.CAMARCH 2021'