The top executive at the Canadian International Grains Institute says Canada’s grain industry must ensure than any changes made to the existing variety registration system do not have a negative impact on grain quality.
“Canada’s grain industry built its reputation on quality … and one of the underpinnings of that is the variety registration system,” said Earl Geddes, CIGI’s chief executive officer.
“Sure, our variety registration system needs to evolve with changes … that allow us to evaluate new varieties more quickly and more easily … but it should still remain a very strong part of that quality assurance system that we have in Canada. When we talk to (overseas) customers and they hear us talking about changing our variety registration system, they get very nervous.”
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The federal government is seeking feedback from the grain industry on proposed changes to Canada’s variety registration system.
Agriculture Canada recently posted an online document entitled Crop Variety Registration in Canada: Issues and Options.
The document, which can be viewed on Agriculture Canada’s website, outlines measures that could be taken to streamline Canada’s variety registration process.
Proposed options include:
• Retaining the current system and using measures already in the system to ensure a more flexible registration process for new crop varieties.
• Maintaining the current system but relaxing minimum registration requirements for all crop types.
• Maintaining government oversight but eliminating regional recommending committees and merit assessments for all new crop lines.
• Eliminating government oversight entirely and allowing industry or third party groups to develop their own variety registration protocols.
Under the fourth option, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada would continue to ensure the safety of plants with novel traits.
Geddes said the current variety registration system already has a certain amount of flexibility built into it.
But that that doesn’t mean other changes can’t be made, as long as they are made carefully with an emphasis on maintaining grain quality and protecting Canada’s reputation.
“I would suggest that there are things that we could probably change in the existing system,” he said.
“Some of the testing that we’re doing is probably redundant today, given our breeding techniques and at the same time, some of the testing that we should be doing isn’t being done, so there’s room for the system to evolve.”
Earlier this year, federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz asked committees involved in registering new crop lines to look for ways to modernize the variety registration system.
Ritz challenged recommending committees under the Prairie Grain Development Committee to review current practices and determine whether a revamped system would be beneficial to the Canadian agriculture industry.
Curtis Pozniak, a respected durum wheat breeder at the Crop Development Centre in Saskatoon, agreed that crop quality and the protection of the Canadian brand should be paramount.
“From my standpoint as a breeder, one of the things that we (are concerned about) is the importance of producing a consistent product and maintaining the Canadian brand,” said Pozniak, who sat on a working group tasked with assessing the current system and identifying potential areas of improvement.
“The variety registration system should be flexible and it is flexible in fact, but as we go forward, I think it will be critical to recognize the importance of the Canadian brand and to make sure that … we have the kinds of products that we need to ensure sales to our overseas customers.”
Stakeholders who wish to weigh in on the issue are invited to complete an on-line survey at http://bit.ly/170kQTQ before Nov. 30.
