The newly formed Alberta Wheat Commission says it is too early to support a proposal from the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association aimed at revamping Canada’s variety registration system.
Commission director Kent Erickson said his organization recognizes the need to review the current system for registering and classifying new wheat varieties.
However, he said it cannot endorse the WCWGA’s proposal until a more thorough, industry-wide consultation has taken place.
“Our position right now is that there needs to be changes, and we have been told by government that we need to look at changes to the variety registration system,” Erickson said.
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“But we also have to understand that the system we have now has been in place for a long time and … that there’s a lot of people in the industry right now that value the system as it is today.… We honestly can’t support (the WCWG proposal) … just because we don’t have the information to determine whether that’s the best model for Alberta or not.”
The wheat growers association recently proposed a new wheat classification system designed to reduce the time needed to bring new wheat varieties to market.
Under the WCWGA model, seed developers would register new wheat varieties first and decide later whether to submit the variety to three years of quality testing.
Varieties submitted for quality testing would then be reviewed by a wheat classification panel, which would determine whether the variety meets the quality parameters of one of Western Canada’s existing wheat classes.
As well, merit testing of disease and agronomic traits would no longer be a pre-condition for registration.
WCWGA members say the proposed system would preserve Canada’s current wheat classification system while reducing pre-registration testing requirements for new wheat lines.
It would also encourage new investments in wheat breeding, especially from private sector breeding companies.
Erickson said the WCWGA proposal may have some merit, but the commission is not prepared to endorse the plan without seeking feedback from growers, researchers and other wheat industry players.
The commission will be putting together its own proposal and submitting it to federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz in due course, he added.
“We’re going to be going to all the different stakeholders in the industry, and then we’ll come out with a position of our own,” Erickson said.
“I think we’re going to see position from all sides of the spectrum.… The (WCWGA) has a position and I respect that, but I think we as a commission need to do our due diligence to make sure that when we do send our position out, that it’s for the benefit of all growers.”
