The federal government is proposing changes that would force farmers to
pay royalties on all the seed they buy and allows companies marketing new varieties to charge as much as they want.
Farmers are objecting during the period of consultations, so one of the
counter-proposals is to form an advisory group of farmers to manage the
proposed royalties system.
“That’s something we’ve been giving a lot of thought to as a potential mechanism
for that ongoing producer involvement,” said Anthony Parker, commissioner of
the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Plant Breeders’ Rights office.
Parker was in Brandon in late January to inform producers about the
potential changes to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act.
A coalition of seed industry groups known as Seed Synergy says creating
additional value in the Canadian seed sector will lead to greater levels of
investment in seed breeding programs. They’ve been pushing for changes, and two
proposals have been discussed at meetings across Canada:
• collecting royalties when farmers sell and deliver grain.
• charging an annual fee to cover farm-saved seed.
Parker said the proposal requires farmers to be members of the Plant
Breeder’s Rights advisory committee. If changes to the royalty system move
forward, the committee could be a tool for producers to have input and
oversight.
“That we bring (in) farmers and say, ‘let’s monitor how is the
performance of the system working, is it achieving the desired outcomes?”
Parker said.
“Is it accomplishing the balance that we’re looking for, where breeders
are benefitting but also producers are benefitting (for better crop
varieties).”
A range of $1 to $3 per tonne of grain produced, or per acre or tonne of
seed used, have been suggested as possible royalty rates. Some producers
believe the rate should be capped, but the seed companies oppose caps..
“The problem with a maximum is what happens if someone brings forward a
trait that has significantly more value?” said Todd Hyra, western business
manager with Secan, the largest supplier of certified seed to Canadian farmers.
“I wouldn’t want to have somebody hamstrung.”
However, Hyra does support other ways to limit
royalty payments, such as basing them on acres rather than on tonnes of
production or amount of planted seed
