Efforts to resurrect the Prairie Canola Variety Trials are inching forward.
Late last year, the Canola Council of Canada distributed a document to seed companies and provincial canola grower groups, outlining the council’s vision for a revamped canola variety testing program to be launched in 2011.
In the document, the council proposed a variety trial system that called for the testing of all commercial canola varieties that have a significant market share as well as varieties that are new to the marketplace.
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The plots would be managed using current production practices such as no-till production, and appropriate herbicides would be used on herbicide tolerant varieties.
Plot work, including seeding, weed management, harvest and data collection, would be contracted to impartial third party operators to ensure unbiased results.
The proposed system also included provisions for a new governance structure that would give producer groups and seed companies a chance to oversee the trials and vote on key issues such as plot design, variety
selection, data collection and analysis and the reporting of results.
According to the proposal, the new variety testing system would be launched as a pilot project in 2011 and would include a total of 30 test sites – five in Manitoba, 15 in Saskatchewan and 10 in Alberta.
If the pilot project is successful, a permanent full-scale program comprising 45 test sites would be launched in 2012.
The full-scale program would include nine test sites in Manitoba, 22 in Saskatchewan and 14 in Alberta. Each province would have one comprehensive monitoring site.
Estimated costs of the program would range from $825,000 to $1.125 million per year, with grower groups paying an estimated $320,000 to $620,000 and seed companies paying roughly $500,000.
Seed company fees would be calculated at a rate of $500 per variety for a company’s first two entries and $175 per variety for an additional three entries.
Contributions by provincial grower groups would vary from province to province.
Estimated expenses under the new system would include a $100,000 fee for trial co-ordination and inspection, $600,00 to $900,000 per year for contracted services, including trial establishment and data collection, $75,000 for the development of a website to report CVT data and $50,000 for data management services.
Franck Groeneweg, a director with the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, said the council’s proposals were well received by SCDC board members.
He said the commission’s directors were generally supportive of the canola council’s ideas, even though the commission’s financial contribution would be significantly higher than it was under the previous PCVT trial program.
“We’re looking at probably a half a million dollars from producers (in all three provinces) to put this thing together and that’s a sizeable amount of money,” he said.
“But I think producers want an unbiased (assessment) of what different canola varieties can do, not only in terms of yield but also in terms of things like maturity and gross margins and so on.
“The trials are definitely needed and wanted … I think the canola council’s proposal is a great way to improve the variety trials, both for seed companies and for producers.”
Groeneweg said the proposed governance structure would lend balance to the variety trials.
“The industry wanted a system that would bring all the players to the table … and that’s what (this proposal) is hoping to achieve,” he said.
“There would be three representatives from the producer groups and three from the seed companies so it would bring a sense of balance to the program.”
The canola council’s proposal included three options for plot design.
Option 1 proposed the use of intermediate plot sizes at all locations. Option 2 proposed small scale plots and Option 3 includes a combination of small or intermediate sized plots and commercial field scale plots designed to reflect conditions on a typical western Canadian farm.
Participating companies and grower groups have been asked to review the proposals and provide feedback.
A final decision is expected in the next few weeks on whether some version of the proposed system can be implemented in time for 2011 seeding.
Rene Mabon, agronomy manager at BrettYoung Seeds, said his company was hoping a trial program could be organized in time for spring planting.
“(BrettYoung is) fully supportive of having a PCVT type trial system in place for 2011 but to say I know anything more about the likelihood of that happening or the status of the trials, I’d be lying,” Mabon said.
The variety trials were designed to compare the yield and agronomic performance of new and existing canola varieties.
They were a highly valued source of information among western Canadian canola growers.
Until recently, the trials were conducted annually at more than two dozen sites across the West.
But in 2010, the trials were suspended after a number of participating seed companies raised concerns over the way trials were being conducted and the manner in which data was being presented.
