Samples from one seed lab are showing surprisingly good germination levels despite drought stress, but seed testing for germination and vigour is still recommended.

Seed quality appears to be better than expected despite heat, drought

Germination rates from fall tests by 20/20 Seed Labs were well above the 90 per cent rate

Reading Time: 2 minutes A “seed quality disaster” has been averted but supply is another story. “For most of the seeds that we tested this season, we expected to see some level of dormancy, but we haven’t seen much of that,” Moses Palmer of 20/20 Seed Labs wrote in an article on Alberta Seed Guide’s website last month. “Mostly, […] Read more

Seed regulatory review reveals industry split

Seed regulatory review reveals industry split

CSGA and Seeds Canada differences affect government review process, the first in decades

Reading Time: 5 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Canada is in the midst of a “once-in-a-generation” review of its seed regulations, but the “Seed Regulatory Modernization” (SRM) process is revealing old industry fractures. Animosity appears to be lingering over the “Seed Synergy” process that led to the formation and launch of Seeds Canada in February of this year. That five-year […] Read more


A ‘challenging year’ for seed supply

A ‘challenging year’ for seed supply

Reading Time: < 1 minute It’s not a guarantee of getting your seed order filled but one company says it will do the legwork in trying to find scarce seed for its customers. Canterra Seeds says its online ordering system will have a “secure supply” option that will direct an order to the nearest suppliers. “The goal is to match […] Read more

Sarah Weigum of Alect Seeds started getting calls about booking seed in July. The Three Hills-area grower is already sold out of some varieties and says farmers should be talking to their seed provider and thinking about alternatives if their first-choice variety picks aren’t available.

Drought slashes seed supplies across the Prairies

Seed supplies are likely to be lower than average this year, so source your seed earlier than normal

Reading Time: 6 minutes Sarah Weigum started to suspect this wouldn’t be a typical year for seed sales back in July, when one of her customers called to book seed for next spring. “My customers aren’t normally the type who call in July for seed for the next spring, and that was just the beginning,” said the Three Hills-area […] Read more





(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Prairie farm slapped with plant breeders’ rights infringement penalties

Farmers need to know who they are buying seed from to avoid potentially significant costs

Infringing on Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) has cost a large southern Alberta farm a record $737,597. “The settlement relates to unauthorized advertisements and sales of PBR-protected barley and wheat varieties,” Alliance Seed, SeCan and an unnamed seed company said in a news release Wednesday. The settlement “includes the royalties, plus legal fees and penalties,” Todd […] Read more



Soybeans. (Alfribeiro/iStock/Getty Images)

China building world’s largest seed bank

Larger facility a bid to boost food security

Beijing | Reuters — China will complete a new national crop germplasm bank this year, the agriculture minister said Wednesday, to boost the country’s capacity to develop new crop varieties and enhance food security. The bank has a designed capacity of 1.5 million copies, almost four times the existing one, and will be the world’s […] Read more

File photo of Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaking to media in Winnipeg in March 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Bibeau says government committed to federal plant breeding

Seed royalty consultations stalled

The Canadian government is committed to plant breeding, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told members of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation on Tuesday. Some farmers and seed industry officials suspect Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) variety development work, along with many other programs, will be on the chopping block post-COVID-19 as the government tackles its […] Read more