“Dan is a high-integrity, visionary executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience across the Canadian seed sector and the broader North American agriculture industry,” said Brent Collins, President of Seeds Canada in a LinkedIn post announcing the move.

Wright most recently worked at Syngenta as head of the company’s North American Enogen and Canada Seed divisions. He previously held senior roles at Monsanto and Bayer, and brings extensive association experience, having served seven years on the Canadian Seed Trade Association Board, including as president (2017–2018).

Experience spanning both multinationals and family-owned seed businesses makes Wright uniquely positioned to unite stakeholders and advance the priorities of Canada’s seed industry, said Collins.

“It is an honor to join Seeds Canada as CEO,” said Wright in the post, adding “having witnessed the incredible value of industry associations throughout my life, I am excited by the opportunity Seeds Canada and its members and clients have to continue to deliver value through innovation to Canadian farmers, ensuring they remain competitive globally.”

To help ensure a smooth transition, Wright will have the opportunity to spend some time with outgoing CEO Barry Senft before his departure at the end of January 2026.

Seeds Canada represents seed growers, analysts, breeders, distributors, processors, retailers, service providers and all stakeholders along the seed value chain in Canada. Its mandate is to support the growth of the seed sector in Canada and worldwide, focusing on plant breeding innovation, seed regulatory modernization, international trade, value creation and plant breeders’ rights.

The post Seeds Canada announces Dan Wright as new CEO appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

“This is a direct threat to food security, seed sovereignty and farmer autonomy,” the NFU said on its website.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is in ongoing consultations around plant breeders’ rights regulations as part of the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act.

What would change?

The proposed amendments would:

• Limit the scope of farmers’ privilege to save seed only to crop kinds where there is a long-standing practice of saving and reusing seed. According to an impact analysis statement posted in the Canada Gazette on August 9, this would preserve the ability to save small grain and pulse seeds, but remove the right to save fruit, vegetable or ornamental plant seeds or propagate those vareties through tubers or cuttings. It would also bar the saving of hybrid seeds.
• Extend the duration of plant breeders’ rights protection to 25 years for crops that take longer to breed and gain market acceptance.
• Narrow the concept of sale for filing a plant breeders’ rights application.
• Reduce the plant breeders’ rights application fee to encourage filing electronic applications.

The purpose of the changes is to increase plant breeder protections in relation to other jurisdictions like the United States and European Union, which the CFIA said offer stronger intellectual property protections for plant breeders.

“As a result, these jurisdictions may have a competitive advantage in attracting investment and innovation in plant breeding,” the CFIA said in a ‘what we heard’ report.

NFU pushback

However, the NFU says these increased protections will come at farmers’ expense. It argues the consequences will include:

• Higher annual production costs due to increased seed and royalty expenses.
• No access to protected varieties that might be discontinued before the protection period expires.
• No access to protected varieties not available through licensed nurseries or seed sellers.
• No opportunity for farmers to adapt new varieties to local conditions by using saved seeds or propagating material harvested on their farms.
• No ability to replace lost fruit trees from the farm’s stock of the variety.
• Further entrenchment of “largely foreign private plant breeding.”

“The ultimate goal of the corporate seed sector is to require annual purchase and royalty payments for all crop kinds,” the NFU said in a news release.

The NFU called for people to sign a Parliamentary e-petition that would call for the government to abandoned the proposed changes.

The e-petition had 2,525 signatures at time of writing.

Industry response to changes

According to the CFIA, the industry is largely in favour of the proposed changes.

The agency held online consultations between May 29 and July 12, 2024 and heard from producer groups representing the agriculture, horticulture and ornamental sectors, international horticulture and ornamental growers, the organic sector, plant breeders, seed companies and others.

Support was consistent across almost every sector, the CFIA said in the ‘what we heard’ report. About ten per cent raised concerns.

“A provincial group representing fruit growers strongly endorsed the proposed amendment, indicating that the farmers’ privilege should not extend to asexually reproduced ornamental and fruit varieties,” the report said.

Other responses suggested the current regulation could be hindering research and innovation and that the changes could reassure foreign and domestic breeders about the strength of intellectual property protection in Canada. This could, in turn, improve access to new varieties.

“The fruit, vegetable, and ornamental sectors are highly dependent on genetics from foreign jurisdiction,” said Keystone Agricultural Producers in a July 12, 2024 submission.

“Adding clarity to farmers’ privilege will increase the confidence of plant breeders who are interested in doing business in Canada.”

The group also agreed with exempting hybrids from farmers’ privileges, saying saving of hybrid seed isn’t typical due to legal and contractual restraints and cropping issues like lower yields.

The post NFU says proposed plant breeders’ rights come at farmers’ expense appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Near the entrance to their booth they highlighted notable corn hybrids the firm has launched over the years under its Dekalb brand.

Kate Hyatt, marketing portfolio lead with the firm, said the idea came earlier this year when she and her colleagues were talking to growers, who spoke about why they chose a certain hybrid. After a while, the discussion morphed into hybrids they’ve used and liked over the years.

“The history makers campaign is about celebrating everything we’ve brought to the market in the past,” Hyatt said, while highlighting the display to Farmtario. “Just like in a music hall of fame, there’s platinum and gold levels. We’ve included those in showcases and captured some tidbits of information from our breeders that worked with them and the staff that have sold them in the field for many years.”

Hyatt noted the effort reflects the interactions farmers have with Dekalb in the field. It’s there that they put the hybrids to the test in real world conditions, and where winners emerge.

“It was about a particular soybean variety or corn hybrid, and what their experience was with that,” she said.

For more of our coverage of Canada’s Outdoor farm show, visit our landing page.

The post Dekalb’s blast from the past appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Senft will continue to serve as CEO until the end of January 2026.

“I think after five years, it’s time for new leadership,” he said during the 2025 Seeds Canada conference in Quebec City.

He said someone with more seeds experience would make sense now that the organization is up and running.

Agriculture sector veteran

Seeds Canada was formed about five years ago in an amalgamation between the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, the Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada, the Canadian Seed Institute and the Canadian Seed Trade Association.

Senft has had numerous roles in the agriculture sector over his career, but several of them have been managing newly merged organizations. He oversaw the newly merged Grain Farmers of Ontario organization previous to his work at Seeds Canada.

“This is pretty big news for us,” said Brent Collins, president of Seeds Canada.

He thanked Senft and said the organization will have six months for him to finish up some of the projects he’s working on.

Seed modernization

Senft led Seeds Canada through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s seed act modernization process, now five years into the process. A position paper with proposals for act changes is expected any day. There will be more consultations yet before the changes are posted in the Canada Gazette.

He says five years is a long time, and a lot of staff time has gone into the process.

“We’ll see what the end result is.”

He said despite moving some rules governing seeds from legislation to regulation, which can be changed more easily, the CFIA still retains control over many of the seed sector rules and processes.

The larger organization has more resources to react to issues in the sector.

Senft says the founding organizations are better together as Seeds Canada and points to the recent challenges around tariffs as an example. Previously, the smaller organizations would have had to go outside their offices to get the expertise needed to manage the tariff threats. Now they have access to those assets.

“We’ve been able to have the resources in place to be able to analyze that and advise our members accordingly.”

The post Senft to step down as CEO of Seeds Canada appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Using high-quality perennial or annual forage seed that is certified — or tested for purity, germination and viability — is a good place to start.

“There is a certain comfort in knowing what to expect when that forage comes out of the ground,” says Hillary Luchinski, a forage extension specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture.

Prevent unwelcome guests

Not all forage seed is tested, and the risk is left to the buyer. Purchasing good-quality seed can pay dividends for years.

“At the end of the day, the decision of whether to purchase tested or untested seed comes down to risk tolerance,” says Luchinski.

Carey Matthiessen, senior seed analyst and director of operations with 2020 Seed Labs, agrees.

“There are strategies you can use to manage growth as the plants grow and develop, but all those things are kind of irrelevant if you’re not starting with the best quality seed you can,” says Matthiessen.

She notes that purity has important implications for forage crops.

There can be a lot of non-seed material, such as chaff, that can bulk up a seed mix, causing seeding rate and emergence challenges, Matthiessen says.

Unwanted guests may be tagging along with the seeds too. 

“Ultimately, we’re always looking for prohibited noxious weeds and noxious weeds in general,” Matthiessen says. “What types of other seeds are in that mixture? What is it that you may be introducing?”

Disease bodies, such as ergot, can also contaminate new forage fields and boundary lands, Matthiessen adds.

For many stewardship rebate programs, using tested forage seed is a requirement.

“Using good, clean seed limits the environmental risks associated with introducing noxious weed seeds,” says Luchinski.

“In most cases, government programs, whether federal or provincial, will have Certified #1 or Common #1 (tested) as part of the eligibility requirements for projects.”

Matthiessen says purchasing seed at a certified level means you are guaranteed a minimum quality that is quite high. For example, a certain range of germination is guaranteed, she says. Certified seed has been tested in an accredited lab, inspected by a certified inspector and cleaned at a registered seed operation.

“There are all these quality controls along the way.”

The forage seed breeding process is highly regulated, Matthiessen adds, in part to maintain a standard of genetic integrity. “Once we get so many generations away from the breeder, we are starting to see genetic diversification.”

Don’t gamble on germination

“Seed stored in a cool, dry place will stay viable for longer than seed exposed to the elements,” says Luchinski.

However, the longer seed is left unplanted, the less viable it will be.

“A good rule of thumb is to try to seed forage within a year to 18 months of purchase to get the best quality,” Luchinski says, adding that if viability is unknown, seed can be sent away for testing.

Some types of forage species are known to have more longevity than others, Matthiessen says, adding that there are many variables influencing seed physiology.

The growing season, harvest conditions and storage methods can affect how long seed remains viable. 

“We can’t assume that a grass seed is going to be fine for 25 years,” says Matthiessen. “Grass seeds can lose their germination within a couple of years if they have quality issues in the seed itself.”

Because most forages are seeded in mixed species blends, having an accurate germination result becomes even more important.

If one of the components of a forage mixture doesn’t grow, producers may be left with an imbalanced mix that is too rich to graze, or one species that outcompetes the others, Matthiessen says.

Understanding what they’re working with allows producers to adjust their seeding rate, purchase new seed or create a different mix.

Testing for germination and breaking dormancy in a laboratory setting can be a challenge, however.

“It depends on the species, because we have cultivated forage crops which have some level of dormancy, and then we have native species which have inherent deep dormancy,” Matthiessen says.

For typical forage crops, such as alfalfa, wheatgrasses and bromegrasses, there are standard dormancy-breaking techniques including a three-day pre-chill phase and imbibing seeds with water.

“If that doesn’t work, you can extend it and do seven days or 14 days,” says Matthiessen. If that is ineffective, the next step is to add dormancy-breaking hormones such as gibberellic acid or potassium nitrate.

“Once you head into native grasses or forages, some of those things won’t even work.”

Many native seeds are subjected to a tetrazolium chloride test, which provides a percentage of viable seeds. “That should be within a tolerable variance of the final germination test,” Matthiessen says.

Interpreting a forage seed analysis

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) outlines seed testing requirements and oversees the accreditation of labs and analysts.

A seed analysis is based on 25,000 seeds, explains Matthiessen.

“Grade tables set the standards for certified seed, and the grade tables have different requirements. How we report them will depend on the grade table labels.”

Matthiessen emphasizes that it’s important to look at whether results are reported as a percentage or as a specific number. She recommends getting a pure seed test and a purity test.

“A pure seed test will break down your pure seed, other crops, other weeds and inert material and report it as a percentage.

“When I’m filling out the report (for a pure seed test), I have to say ‘less than one percent found’ but that could mean only one seed in 25,000, or that could mean 250.”

The variation within a single percentage could have long-term consequences in the field.  

To determine the particular weeds or other plant species are in a sample, Matthiessen suggests conducting a purity test.

It’s critical to gather a representative sample of the forage seed when sending it to a lab for analysis.

“The certificate of analysis only shows what was in the sample, so depending on how the sample was taken, it may not be a completely accurate representation of the whole seed lot,” says Luchinski.

“When we’re looking at forages or native seeds, where we have some light inert material that might rise to the top, or we might have small seeds mixed in that fall to the bottom of a bag, how you take the sample for testing is really important,” says Matthiessen.

For example, if you have multiple bags of forage seed, Matthiessen suggests sampling each bag a couple of times in different places to make a composite sample to send to the lab.

Adding value through analysis

While CFIA standardizes seed testing across Canada, labs may differ in their approach to customer service.

If producers have questions or seek clarification, Matthiessen encourages them to contact their lab directly.  

“A lot of what we’re doing is consultation-based,” Matthiessen says. “I help (customers) figure out what they want to do based on the information that we have.”

Matthiessen says that if they see an issue with a sample, they generally contact the customer to talk them through it. “I never want to surprise anybody with a test result,” she says.

Know your risks

In many cases, it is worth spending the extra money on certified or tested seed so you know what you’re bringing onto the farm and understand the quality of the end product, says Luchinski.

A seed test is relatively inexpensive. If a producer is in doubt, it’s easy to resample and request a lab test.

“Know what you have going into the ground, know what risk you’re taking, and the risk to stewardship,” says Matthiessen.

“It’s worth it to find out before you plant.”

The post Benefits to farmers of testing forage seed appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Canterra Seeds announced May 1 it has acquired Alliance Seed for an undisclosed amount, and will continue to operate Alliance as “a standalone brand under Canterra Seeds’ umbrella, with key staff transitioning to maintain continuity and customer relationships.”

Alliance, headquartered in Winnipeg, dates back to 2009, when it formed as a joint venture between two privately held Winnipeg grain and agrifood firms (Paterson Grain, Parrish and Heimbecker) and four Saskatchewan grain terminal firms (North West Terminal, Weyburn Inland Terminal, Prairie West Terminal, Great Sandhills Terminal).

Paterson announced in December 2023 it had bought P&H’s share for an undisclosed amount. North West Terminal — the only other company still holding a share of Alliance at that time — later reported it had sold its stake in November 2024 for $8,300.

Alliance’s roster of seed varieties includes five varieties of Canada Western Red Spring wheat, one Canada Western Red Winter wheat, three durums, two Canada Prairie Spring Red wheats, three pea varieties, three barley varieties and two oat varieties.

Canterra, in a release May 1, described the deal as a “strategic acquisition” that supports its goal of “expanding its footprint in the pedigreed seed market by bringing high-performing, proven varieties such as CDC Endure milling oats and AAC Leroy VB CWRS wheat to more farmers across Western Canada.”

Alliance “has built an impressive portfolio and a network supported by committed seed growers,” Canterra CEO Brent Derkatch said in the release. “With our experience, we’re confident we can build on this strong foundation, help the brand grow, and offer even more value to Canadian farmers.”

Shane Paterson, director of trading and transportation for Paterson Grain and the former president of Alliance, said in the same release that as Paterson “looked for the right successor, it was important to find someone who aligned with Alliance Seed’s culture and commitment to personalized service.”

Paterson, he said, “look(s) forward to continuing our support through our retail network.”

Formed in 1996 by a group of Prairie seed growers, Winnipeg-based Canterra’s stakeholders today include about 175 seed growers, ag retailers and other private investors.

Among those are French farmer co-operative Limagrain, which bought its stake when it set up a wheat breeding joint venture with Canterra in 2015, and United Farmers of Alberta (UFA), which bought a 17 per cent share of Canterra from Ceres Global Ag Corp. for $2.5 million in July last year.

The post Canterra buys pedigreed seed firm Alliance Seed appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

“This recommendation, approved in principle by the Boards of Directors of both organizations, is designed to improve communication and collaboration between the seed sector, the broader value chain, and government,” CSGA said in a March 31 post on its website.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) launched the seed regulatory modernization process in September 2020, and has rolled out a series of surveys and consultations with seed companies and growers, farmers, breeders and other members of the value chain.

CSGA said the advisory committee would serve as a structured forum for discussion and information exchange on matters related to the ongoing modernization. It wouldn’t have governing power, fiduciary responsibilities or the ability to set standards.

“Providing a dedicated venue for engagement would help ensure that policy and regulatory matters are addressed through a timely, balanced, and inclusive approach,” CSGA said.

Seeds Canada and CSGA have sent a joint statement to the CFIA encouraging the agency to accept the proposal. CSGA will keep members appraised of developments, the organization said.

In October, the CFIA released the results of its third round of industry and expert consultations. According to the CFIA’s website, it’s currently in consultation with First Nations and Indigenous communities on their perspectives and priorities.

The post Seed groups agree to form modernization advisory committee appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The findings of the study in Brazil, the world’s largest producer and exporter of soybeans, underscore the challenges faced by seed, chemical and biotechnology companies doing business there.

Why it matters: Payment for seeds helps fund development of new and more advanced varieties, which aids farmers in growing more productive crops.

The country, which competes with the United States and Argentina in world markets, sells most of its soybeans for processing in China.

Pirated soybean seeds occupy 11 per cent of the area sowed with soybeans in Brazil, the study found after looking at planting data for the 2023/24 season. At that point, the total area planted with soy was 46.15 million hectares (114.039 million acres), data from national crop agency Conab shows.

The nation’s soy area in the 2024/2025 season is 47.45 million hectares (117.25 million acres).

Approximately 1 billion reais could be lost in taxes over the next 10 years due to seed piracy, the survey estimates. Also, combating seed piracy could contribute to increasing investments to improve seed varieties by 900 million reais over the next decade, according to the study.

Croplife represents seeds companies, biotechnology firms and pesticides and bioinput producers.

The post Brazil soy seed piracy generates $1.76 billion in losses per year, study finds appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Todd Hyra can’t speak for the entire grain industry, but as far as SeCan is concerned, its western business manager says there’s no such thing as a “Version 2.0” of any of the varieties it distributes.

“By the time a new variety lands with us it’s been through eight to 10 years of trials and then through the registration system for three years. And so we’re already 12 years into a variety’s development process,” said Hyra at Ag in Motion 2024, held July 16-18 near Langham, Saskatchewan.

It’s farmer seed growers that make the call as to whether a variety is going to work or not, he said.

“The real magic in our system is the fact that our seed growers will multiply those for two more years under full-on field conditions. They’ll grow them with commercial equipment on their land in the area where they’re going to be sold.”

“And so it’s our farmer seed growers that are the ones that grow, process and sell these varieties locally that provide the final proof. And if they work for them on their farm those last two, three years of production, then the bugs are pretty much out.”

That doesn’t mean a variety is perfect, but it’s been through such a rigourous process that it’s as perfect as it’s going to get, said Hyra.

“There’s always an environmental curveball that will come your way that you may not see coming; some disease or something that you might not have ever expected,” he said.

“But for the most part, it’s that last three years of full-on commercial production by a local seed grower that provides the proof. And if they don’t work for the seed growers, they’ll quite often kill off a variety before they’re ever going to go commercial. If they like it, then their customers can be assured that it’s going to work in their area.”

The post Seed growers offer proof that new varieties will work, says SeCan manager appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The team, which included canola breeder Dale Burns, plant health product developer Xuehua Zhang, market developers Tim Darragh and Tim Gardner and canola product developer Liz Simpson, spoke Wednesday. They described some of the new pathways they can now use to get there.

“One thing that is working in our favour in this country is that the Canadian government did announce that they would look at gene-edited crops as not requiring any extra regulatory approval steps,” Burns said, referring to Ottawa’s decision on guidance for plant breeding in May last year.

“Certainly that opened the door to groups like ourselves to dive into that gene editing, identifying traits that could bring enhanced protection, could bring enhanced quality, some of those types of things (whereas previously) we were operating a little bit in the dark as far as whether that was an option or not for us for several years.”

Noting the discussions about the value of autosteer technology for farmers 10-15 years ago, Simpson now looks in the same way at artificial intelligence, and A.I.-supported predictive modelling of conditions such as drought, heavy rain and high heat, “so we don’t necessarily have to ever push through failure in a field.”

While such modelling may seem “a little funky and ‘out there’ today, I think that’s going to be very commonplace 10-15 years from now (and the industry will) be very comfortable putting things into simulations and understanding what that’s going to look like before we ever put it in a field,” Simpson said. “We’re going to have a digital picture of how this is going to perform in Western Canada.”

Such new tools will also add new efficiencies to the breeding and selection process. Breeding for disease resistance takes longer than breeding for yield, Zhang said, as new pathotypes and pathogen populations emerge over the years.

Bringing forward source material for resistance is also a time-consuming process, Burns said. “As we scour the world for sources of resistance to different diseases, sometimes they’re not very good — they’re not canola. When you start with something that’s a wild relative of canola, that adds a lot of years to being able to bring it into a high-performing hybrid in the marketplace… quite often you’re starting with material that’s really not adapted to being grown here.”

Provincial disease surveys, Burns said, are a critical tool in monitoring for outbreaks and ensuring breeders are aware not only of what the disease pressures are. Zhang, he noted, does “an amazing job of (identifying) which races of each disease are most present, and where we need to focus those breeding efforts” while also working to anticipate the upcoming disease races on which the trend lines are just beginning to rise.

New tools and innovations, Zhang added, have already allowed developers to reduce that disease resistance work by one to two years — but they need to ensure there’s no “yield drag” or other issues with a disease-resistant trait before bringing it into the company’s breeding pipeline.

From the point where the company starts its initial work developing new parents of hybrids, up until when a new hybrid is deployed into the market, is around seven years, Burns said — two years in early development and five in testing to confirm performance, “checking for that stability across environments, picking the cream of the crop that goes on to the next year of testing.”

These new tools won’t shorten that total cycle, he said, but the efficiency with which companies can select for higher yield will be greater.

“We use a lot of genetic predictions and they’re really good — in some ways more effective than doing some of the first years of testing (but) we still want to have potential new products experience a lot of environments and look for things that maybe the models didn’t predict very well. There’s a lot of predicting things, but also you still have to prove it and you still have to put it out there and make sure that it’s what the predictions were saying.”

The best of the best, he said, are still proved out on the field — especially at farm scale. Small plots are good but not great at predicting actual yield; the final decisions will still rely on farm-scale, grower-performed trials.

Farmer priorities

From the grower’s point of view, Darragh said, “if you ask a farmer what he wanted in his canola hybrids, he’d say ‘Everything’” — but yield tops the priority list.

“We need to have performance; that’s how they pay the bills, is with money, so they want to make sure they’ve got products that are going to yield well and give them good profit.”

Gardner agreed yield remains top priority — and growers also want to know how well a variety can hold that yield “when things go south.”

Over the past four decades, Burns said, seed developers “probably haven’t raised the yield ceiling nearly as much as we’ve raised the yield floor,” adding that apart from genetic advancements, increased moisture conservation through zero-till has been a big factor in ensuring enough moisture remains available to canola at seeding.

Beyond yield, rowers’ top-of-mind priorities will vary as they face different challenges region by region, Darragh said.

“When you think of northern Alberta, clubroot is kind of that priority, so to have a good disease tolerance and access to novel sources of clubroot resistance, that’s a key thing,” whereas in Manitoba, straight-cut harvestability is a major consideration.

Harvest management, Gardner agreed, “is such a key thing all the time…I’ve been saying this a lot this year, where aside from traits…nobody is long on time, so anything that slows you down or costs you time is very important — and the other thing is, nobody likes bad surprises. People like good surprises, but nobody likes bad surprises.”

Past that, Darragh said, weed management is also a priority across the board, particularly herbicide-resistant species of wild oats and kochia.

DeKalb’s TruFlex Liberty Link gives growers an option to manage multiple spectrums of resistant weeds and a variety such as the new DK401TL promoted at the AIM show, is “bringing all those things in one hybrid.”

The post From AIM: New tech opens paths for canola’s next steps appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.