b'SEEDS CANADA / SEEDS-CANADA.CA / WERE WORKING TO MAKE THE VUA MORE EFFECTIVE THE VARIETY USE AGREEMENT PLATFORM IS GETTING MORE USER FRIENDLYIVE HAD MANY items on my agenda since I came on as intellectual property manager for SeedsWHAT IS THE VUA PLATFORM?Canada, but a big one has been ensuring we make the Variety Use Agreement (VUA) and itsWhat it is.related platform more efficient and built with theA web-based application used to facilitate future in mind. and capture the signing of VUA agreementsIm happy to report that weve been hard at Melanie Reekie,work revamping the platform in order to take it A cost-effective tool to facilitate the Seeds Canadato the next level and ensure the VUA serves ascollection of fees for grain used as seedIntellectuala value creation tool that does exactly what itsA transparent tool to communicate fees for Propertymeant to doreward plant breeders for theirgrain used as seedServicesinnovations and keep a steady flow of innovative Manager new varieties coming to growers. A tool that has ability to support monitoring Since the VUA was launched, our industryfor IP compliance of varieties purchased has gone through an amalgamation and our firstunder a VUA (and documented in the priority was a rebrand. The VUA now falls underplatform)the Seeds Canada banner. In addition, weveWhat it isnt.taken a lot of feedback from all levels of VUA It is not an IP enforcement toolplatform users. We knew if the VUA platform wasnt user friendly, people wouldnt want to use I t is not a tool that threatens or discourages it. Our eyes are open, our ears are open, andthe use of farm-saved seedwere working towards solutions to make the VUA platform better than ever.Planned improvements include backend/database maintenance; the updating of all agree-ments to reflect consistency in branding; stream- VUA PLATFORM:lining of processing (including possibly mergingUPDATES COMPLETEDthe Platform Use Agreement and Variety Use Agreement for purchasers into one document Software has been rebranded from CPTA to and adding quantity of seed purchased infor- Seeds Canadamation to agreements.In addition to technical improvements, wereEstablished a process for retailers to manage also continuing with an education initiative toPlatform Use Agreement and Variety Use inform users and potential users about the VUAAgreement in hard copy formatand what its meant to do. Developed a process for producers without The VUA is growing as its value becomesemail and/or internet accessmore apparent. We now have 11 varietiesChanged frequency of reminders sent from enrolled in the program (more than triple theplatformnow sent every three daysnumber since it was first launched). Rome wasnt built in a day, and it will take time for the VUA Resolved duplicate account numbers that were to become a prominent source of funding forcreated prior to software launchplant breeding innovation in Canada.Seeds Canada staff can now edit user account As we work to improve the VUA and encour- information and reset passwordsage others to use it, were open to feedback Expanded data export capabilities for users to from users at all levels, from the breeder to theexport search results (Distributor/Retailer)retailer to the grower. Feel free to email me at mreekie@seeds-canada.ca and I will be happy Improve formatting in some display windowsto work with you to further improve this valu-able tool. 30GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2022'