Jeff Warrack, National Cattle Feeders Association past chair, on working together:

“We’ve been criticized in the past for being fragmented as an industry. We’ve got to start connecting along the various segments in this beef industry. The strategy is pretty ambitious, but to me, that’s the No. 1 thing we have to start to do. One of the things that we’ve done in that direction is the establishment of this beef advisers’ committee.

“What we’ve boiled it down to is that we need to focus on some key areas — like labour recruitment and retention, emergency preparedness, social licence to operate, and the sharing of information through the chain.

“We’re asking people to keep investing, and we need to make sure we target these investments appropriately, and we’re also making sure that these investments are targeting their desired outcomes. This is also part of the role of the beef advisers.”

Dave Solverson, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president, on competitiveness

“We need to make sure that we have a regulatory environment in Canada that does not burden us. In order for the industry to be competitive, it’s necessary to have that regulatory system that supports the industry, encourages innovation and efficiency and doesn’t add unnecessary costs. The current federal government’s focus on regulatory reform is positive for our industry. They have a one-for-one approach now where one regulation is removed for every new regulation introduced. We support that, and we will be holding them to that if we can. The government’s current focus on regulatory reform is a significant step to producing more industry competitiveness moving forward.

“The strategy will also address regulatory co-operation with our major trading partners, which is also essential to the future and competitiveness of our industry. The reduction of regulatory barriers would not only have benefits to the cost of production, but it could also result in enhanced food safety, and animal health. This is about the relative cost of our inputs, so the prices we pay are not artificially inflated by our regulations. It’s a cumbersome approval process we have, and the lack of access to new and more innovative products has held us back in the past. Some of the changes in Bill C-18 should give us more access to products.

It’s very important that we have access to those competitively priced inputs.”

David Bolduc, Canadian Beef Breeds Council president, on productivity and efficiency

“In the purebred sector of our industry, it’s very exciting. Never before have we had the tools to improve the cattle that influence every segment of this industry so much. This strategy has a set of benchmarks to get to an improvement of 15 per cent in production in the next five years. I think a significant amount of this increase in production will be generated by the seed stock sector in improvements in genetics. The main area of improvement is going to come from genomic evaluation, and our ability to evaluate these cattle for what they have. It’s far beyond what we’ve seen in the past.

“Projects that will make a difference include bovine respiratory disease research. Essentially, we’re going to be able to genomically select cattle that have a resistance to BRD. This could be significant from a feedlot perspective and could result in a huge reduction of antimicrobial use. This will be acceptable to consumers, since it relies on natural selection at an accelerated pace. So much of this technology will put our industry in a sustainable light.

“We’re also looking at things like feed efficiency, which will have a tremendous economic impact. The big challenges include education and adoption of this technology and this is going to take funding. Already, we’re seeing increases in the purebred industry of membership fees.”

Tim Oleksyn, Beef Cattle Research Council chair, on research benefits

“We’ve had some real value by having a national beef research strategy. Provincial, federal and even global governments have supported this document and the organizations in it, and this has led to taking some leadership and moving things forward in a collaborative nature.

“The strategy will help us prioritize. There are so many decisions made by researchers on an ongoing basis, and research touches so many things in the strategy, like the expansion of the productivity demand and how we move forward on that, to the forages and grains efficiencies. It also touches on the need for information on antimicrobials, and dealing with the food safety aspects.

“Our role is to identify brilliance among groups of people and get those collaborations going and moving forward to help with the demand side and increase productivity.

“Right now, we’re at this tipping point where we can really move things forward, in terms of decision-making and data collection and where it ties in with social licensing and the ability to transfer information.”

Jack Hextall, Canada Beef Inc. chair, on consumers and checkoffs

“Everyone knows that consumers make choices based on many things, including loyalty. We’re not the only protein choice out there and we’re not the only beef choice out there. An aligned industry can help us meet consumer expectations of confidence, and expectations of how our beef is produced, raised and sold across the country.

“It’s also about creating a good, consistent experience. Consistency means that we do what’s right every time and that can be taste, or buying experience or education, etc.

“Demand for beef is high and growing in international markets. We need to align our industry to achieve greater successes in all sectors, to capitalize on growing beef demand around the world, and increase the cut-out value.

“To be sustainable, we all have to be profitable, and that collaborates to help sustain demand. “Achieving the goals identified in the national plan are estimated to require a checkoff investment of approximately $19 million, or $2.50 per head, which is a $1.50 increase from the current $1 national checkoff. Checkoff dollars trigger significant investments at both the national and provincial level. If industry isn’t at the table, then why would anyone else want to be there with their money as well? It really boils down to an investment in our own future.”

The post In their words: Beef leaders talk about new national strategy appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It might slow things down a bit, but nonetheless, we believe that it will be approved by Parliament in early 2015, after which work will need to be done on the regulations that go into making this bill a reality,” said Cole Christensen, communications manager for Alberta Barley.

And the regulations are where things could go sideways for producers hoping to save seed.

“We’ve been assured that the farmers’ privilege to save seed will be guaranteed within the legislation,” said Christensen. “However, we believe we will need to watch this carefully to ensure that nothing changes.

“Basically, it’s written into the legislation, but the actual enforceable rules come in during the regulation phase. They could add any kind of condition on it post-implementation.”

Once it comes into effect, Bill C-18 will amend the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act and bring Canada in compliance with UPOV ’91, a convention created by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties that sets out the criteria for intellectual property (IP) rights for plant breeding. One of the conditions of the new trade deal with Europe is that UPOV ’91 is ratified in Canada.

“The federal government sees this not just as a step forward for plant breeders’ rights but as part of an overall IP strategy that will help Canada build relationships with key trading partners,” Christensen said.

“It’s a gateway to make trade agreements.”

And once Bill C-18 comes into effect, end-point royalties likely won’t be far behind.

“An amended plant breeders’ rights act wouldn’t necessarily result in the introduction of an end-point royalty, but it would allow the federal government to implement it at any time,” said Christensen.

As federal research funding shrinks and demand for improved varieties grows, end-point royalties seem like “the most logical system” for funding variety development, he said.

“Based on the federal government’s desire to change the current system, the future research in plant breeding in Canada is likely to be done primarily by private companies and, to a small extent, by publicly funded universities,” said Christensen.

“And the most viable way of funding these companies right now seems to be through an end-point royalty.”

One alternative is to “drastically increase the cost of new seed” — sometimes called the “canola model.” In that system, farmers assume the brunt of the risk, while plant breeders continue to be funded through the high cost of seed.

In the end-point royalty system, the cost of seed is “supposed to remain lower,” with a percentage of varietal seeds sales going back to breeders using systems created for checkoff collection, said Christensen. With end-point royalties, farmers and breeders share the risk — but on-farm input costs would go up.

“Farmers will pay more to put in the crop. That’s the reality of the system,” said Christensen.

Regardless of which funding model is used for ongoing variety development, it’s vital that the decision isn’t made solely by “nine guys in a board room in Calgary,” he said.

“No matter how you look at it, farmers will be paying for it,” he said. “No matter what model is chosen, farmer money invested in farmer-funded research needs to be directed and controlled by farmers.”

The post Federal bill brings Canada one step closer to an end-point royalty system appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“I hope to debunk some of the myths that are out there…,” Anthony Parker told the Prairie Grain Development Committee’s annual meeting in Winnipeg Feb. 26.

“Farmers’ privilege (to save seed) is clearly entrenched in legislation and there are no immediate changes planned.”

A selling point for some for amending Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights legislation through Bill C-18, the Agricultural Growth Act, is the notion that it will allow plant breeders to collect so-called “end-use royalties” on farmers’ grain when delivered to the elevator. But Parker said while the law allows for end-point royalties, they are not automatically invoked after C-18 becomes law.

“There will have to be strong support from the farmer community to do this,” he said later in an interview.

There’s confusion about end-point royalties because the new law allows breeders to seek compensation from harvested crops grown from illegal seed — so-called brown-bagged seed, which is seed grown without compensating the breeder.

“The intent here is really about reducing infringement (of plant breeders’ rights),” Parker said. “It is not a legislated basis for end-point royalties.”

The new law does not affect the ability of farmers who buy seed and pay a royalty to the breeder to save seed from their harvest to plant future crops so long as they have not signed an agreement not to save seed. However, they can’t sell or trade that seed to other farmers for planting.

Brown-bagged seed

Brown-bag seed is already illegal under Canada’s plant breeders’ rights legislation, which conforms to UPOV ’78 (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants). The new law will extend breeders’ rights allowing breeders to seek compensation at different points in the value chain, “if, and only if” they weren’t compensated when the seed was purchased.

While most farm groups support the legislation — some with provisos — the National Farmers Union (NFU) fears farmers’ traditional right to save seed is at risk. Not so, said Parker in an interview: “Again, that continued practice of farm-saved seed is completely permitted to happen with the legislative amendments.”

But former NFU president Terry Boehm notes the legislation refers to farm-saved seed as a “privilege” not a “right.” And according to Boehm it’s a “hollow privilege” because the new legislation prevents farmers from stocking seed.

“Stocking,” which means stockpiling seed for future sale, is different than “storing,” Parker said.

“There’s nothing in the act that would preclude the act of storing seed on farm to use in subsequent years (as seed by farmers),” he said.

From the Manitoba Co-operator website: Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) and Bill C-18

Explicit

Under current legislation farm-saved seed is “implicit,” Parker said. But because breeders’ rights are being expanded beyond seed sales, the farmer’s ability to save seed needs to be “explicit” in the new law, he said.

Boehm also notes that the legislation allows the federal cabinet to limit the farmers’ privilege through regulation. “This is hardly what one would call enshrining a farmer’s right to use their own seed,” he wrote in an opinion piece.

Farm-saved seed is “not an absolute right,” Parker acknowledged, but added the legislation needs flexibility because 330 different crop kinds are covered.

“To say that the same thing will work in the cereal sector, as will work in the potato sector, as will work in the fruit tree sector is somewhat unreasonable,” he said.

No changes to the farmers’ privilege can be made without consulting farmers, Parker added.

According to the NFU, the new law would allow breeders to take draconian measures, such as freezing assets of those suspected of contravening breeders’ rights.

“We have not had, to date, any draconian measures under the PBR act and it’s not expected with these few provisions bringing it up to UPOV ’91 that there will be any draconian measures in terms of enforcement of Plant Breeders’ Rights,” Parker said.

Breaches

Breeders’ rights have been in place since 1991 in Canada. When breaches occur, farmers are usually required to pay the royalties they owe, plus costs.

Under the new law a seed cleaner caught processing brown-bagged seed could be forced to compensate the breeder, Parker said. But seed cleaners can protect themselves by getting farmers to sign waivers.

“There are simple solutions,” he said. “I don’t think there needs to be any concern among those treating or conditioning seed.”

Protecting breeders allows them to get a return on investment, which encourages domestic and foreign breeders to provide improved varieties to Canadian farmers, he said.

“There’s this notion out there that this is a zero sum proposition — if breeders gain more rights then farmers must lose rights,” Parker said. “That is not the case. It is truly a win-win situation. Stronger breeders’ rights result in more farmer benefits.”

The post Debunking myths around Canada’s UPOV ’91 legislation appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

CFA had already endorsed the plant breeders’ rights portion of the bill but reserved judgment on the rest until it had time to review changes to the advance payment program provisions. Its conclusion is that they too will benefit farmers.

CFA president Ron Bonnett said the legislation “takes on several issues that will increase access to important programs for farmers and will result in cost savings for administrators and farms.” He added that the proposals in the legislation show the government has been listening to farm groups.

The backing of most farm groups should speed up the bill’s passage through Parliament in 2014. Grain Growers of Canada and the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance have thrown their support behind it.

Bonnett added that the proposed changes to the Advance Payments Program, under which farmers can borrow against the value of unsold crops, “should reduce red tape by limiting the administrative burden of using the program year after year.”

The government has promised additional consultations during the next few weeks on the advance payments changes, which will add livestock and additional crops and permit multi-year agreements, Bonnett said. “CFA and other producer groups will be consulting closely with Agriculture Canada to ensure these changes best meet the needs of producers and do not impose undue additional costs or burden on producers,” Bonnett said.

CFA will be seeking an increase in maximum payments available through the program “to address the continued inflation of farm expenses, which was not addressed in this bill,” Bonnett said.

Another change will allow farmers to reschedule payments so they are not forced to sell product “at inopportune times just to meet repayment requirements,” Bonnett noted.

As well, farmers who hold outside jobs to support their farm will be eligible to apply for advance payments on their production, which will benefit many startup and expanding operations, he added.

Plant breeders’ rights (PBR) will allow researchers to collect royalties on new varieties they develop to help finance additional research. It will bring Canada in line with an international convention established in 1991.

The CFA said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which will administer the PBRs, needs to discuss any proposals to control farmer-saved seeds before bringing them in “or the balance in the act may be lost.” It wants the agency to ensure seed prices remain reasonable and protect farmers from claims of patent infringement for “the natural or accidental spreading of patented plant genetic material, or the insemination of an animal by an animal with patent protection.”

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