b'GIANT VIEWSIS THIS THE START OF A FORAGEFIELD PEA RENAISSANCE?IT WAS AROUND 15 years ago that the 4010 forage field peaof a contract system that allows variety hit the market. At the time it was a very innovativebreeders to better protect their intel-variety, offering high bio-mass in a forage field pea withlectual property, which results in good agronomics. higher certified seed use in the U.S. But because its getting so old and no certified seedcompared to Canada.production of this variety takes place, the return on thatWe are primarily a canola breed-variety is basically zero for us. Were no longer gettinging company. We have 30 full-time a return on our investment, which means its difficult tostaff working on canola breeding bring new and better varieties to market. We must investfor North America. We have zero in new genetics, bringing to market varieties that givefull-time staff working on peas, producers higher value. But how do we do this when weonly staff working part time on field have no way to recoup the money weve spent on devel- peas. Right now, the rate of return in Kevin McCallum,oping those older varieties?forage field pea is so small that we General Manager,In other words, were looking to increase our invest- are unable to significantly grow this DL Seeds ment in modern plant breeding. It takes up to 10 years toside of our businessunless we bring a new forage pea variety to market. Thats a lot ofcan develop a model that allows us time, people power, research and dollars. Other parts ofto recoup the investments we make the world have developed systems that allow public orto bring new varieties to market.private breeders and seed companies to protect innova- The Variety Use Agreement tion through funded development of new varieties, allow- (VUA) pilot program is one possible ing a return on investment while delivering solid value toway to accomplish this. We recently producers at the same time. We need the same ability forannounced the inclusion of two plant breeders in Canada. new forage field pea varieties we are hoping will gain traction among growers and allow us to fund the development of more such varieties. Preliminary discussions around the WERE NO LONGER GETTING A RETURN ON OURpilot program, first announced in INVESTMENT, WHICH MEANS ITS DIFFICULT TOFebruary, are promising. Seed companies choosing to sell BRING NEW AND BETTER VARIETIES TO MARKET. these varieties will be targeting cus-tomers who see value in investing in plant breeding and getting new varieties into the marketplace. This can only help further the discussion Ratifying UPOV 91 several years ago was a huge steparound the need for more invest-forward for us as a country. It allows plant breedersment in variety development.in Canada to protect their rights in ways they couldntI also hope our participation in before, so they can be properly rewarded for their hardan effort like the VUA pilot pro-work. When breeders benefit in this way, so do seedgram marks the beginning of a companies and producers. forage field pea breeding investment Since I began my career at DL Seeds a dozen yearsrenaissance in Canada. Many other ago, our return on investment has been negative in fieldcrops can use this kind of influx of pea development in Canada. We do better business in theenthusiasm and, most important of field pea arena in the United States, as their pea develop- all, investment. ment model is different than in Canada. They have more 48GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2020'