The first wave of new seed varieties has been registered under Canada’s new UPOV-91 compliant plant breeders rights (PBR) rules.
According to information posted on the the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website, the CFIA’s plant breeders rights office (PBRO) has granted PBR protections to 12 new agricultural crop varieties.
The new crops approved under Canada’s enhanced PBR framework include three American wheat varieties.
Among those new wheat varieties are Barlow and Prosper, a pair of public varieties that were developed by plant breeders at North Dakota State University.
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Barlow and Prosper will be distributed in Canada by Seed Depot Corporation of Pilot Mound, Man.
The third new wheat variety is 25W31, an American variety developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International in Iowa.
Other new seed varieties approved under Canada’s new PBR framework include:
• WestLin 71, a new flax variety developed by Crop Production Services (CPS) Canada;
• PR0CN427 and PR0CN446, a pair of canola varieties developed by Bayer Crop Science Inc., in Saskatoon;
• AAC Justice, a new oat variety whose PBR rights are held by Agriculture Canada in Winnipeg, and:
• CDC Haymaker and CDC Ruffian, a pair of new oat varieties developed at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Those varieties will be distributed in Canada by SeCan and FP Genetics respectively.
In Ottawa, the Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) was quick to congratulate the industry on the new PBR approvals, suggesting that Ottawa’s new PBR framework is delivering new, improved varieties to Canadian farmers, as expected.
Prior to Ottawa approving the PBR amendments, CSTA officials had argued that a modernized PBR framework would encourage investment in domestic plant breeding programs and give Canada’s farmers access to promising seed varieties that were developed in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The recent PBR approvals support that claim, CSTA officials said in an April 29 news release.
“While this is exactly what we were expecting with updated legislation, it is still very exciting to see it happening,” said CSTA president Dave Baute.
“Our farmers now have access to new Canadian developed varieties and also to international varieties that would never have come to Canada without the new legislation.”
Contact brian.cross@producer.com
