Reading Time: 2 minutes 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.
Seed growers offer proof that new varieties will work, says SeCan manager
Feds invest in research to promote more diverse crop rotations
Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal government is investing $5,733,852 million in funding to advance soybean, corn and oat research and promote diverse crop rotations across Canada.
Prairie farm slapped with plant breeders’ rights infringement penalties
Farmers need to know who they are buying seed from to avoid potentially significant costs
Reading Time: 3 minutes 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
Bibeau says government committed to federal plant breeding
Seed royalty consultations stalled
Reading Time: 2 minutes 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
Is a united seed sector possible in Canada?
Finding modernization, value creation and synergy in a streamlined seeds agency
Reading Time: 7 minutes In spite of the size of agriculture in Canada, its home-grown seed industry is relatively small. Wheat and canola represent our two largest commodities by area, yet the domestic share of research and plant breeding activity is underwhelming. In part, that’s linked to the fact that the seed sector is comprised of a variety of […] Read more
Beware of Kazakhs wanting to buy seed, agency says
Seed growers and farmers alike are being warned such sales breach breeders' rights rules
Reading Time: 3 minutes Western Canadian seed growers, seed retailers and commercial farmers are being urged not to sell seed to Kazakhs or their agents because it breaches plant breeders’ rights rules. “The basic fact is no Canadian breeder has given permission for their genetics to go to Kazakhstan,” Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, […] Read more
Protect your midge-tolerant wheat
The midge-tolerance gene was found in the majority of SWS wheats in 2017. Refuge seed is required to keep this trait in play
Reading Time: 3 minutes Producers should add refuge seed to most Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Soft White Spring (SWS) wheat varieties in 2018 to prolong the longevity of the midge-tolerance Sm1 gene, says Todd Hyra, western business manager for seed marketing agency SeCan. Last spring, Canadian researchers discovered Sm1 in most SWS varieties, including AAC Indus, AC […] Read more
Refuge sought for West’s midge-tolerant SWS wheats
Reading Time: 3 minutes Refuge seed and other stewardship measures will be needed for the “majority” of soft white spring (SWS) wheat varieties grown on the Prairies, to protect the midge-tolerant trait many of them have now been found to have. That’s the assessment of seed marketing agency SeCan, which sells at least three SWS varieties now found to […] Read more
New in IP and edible bean varieties
When you opt to grow food-grade or edible beans, the challenges are substantial – but so are the potential benefits
Reading Time: 3 minutes In the past few years, production of identity-preserved (IP) food-grade soybeans and edible beans has seen ebbs and flows based on their respective markets, with growers signing up and dropping out in ways that the trade says are much harder to predict. The comparative ease and reliability of growing transgenic corn and soybeans is hard […] Read more
New soybean varieties in 2017 for Western Canada
Demand for soybeans just keeps rising on the Prairies
Reading Time: 7 minutes Three years ago, something interesting occurred in soybean production in Canada: in 2013, Manitoba became the second-leading producer of soybeans in the country. The province’s 1,068,200 acres of soybeans eclipsed the 847,000 acres produced in Quebec. And the figures continue to rise with each passing year, to the point where nearly 1.4 million acres came […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
