North American Seed Fair | Canola’s popularity another problem because it lacks a category
Tim Willms of Willms Seeds in Grassy Lake, Alta., has another plaque in his collection.
The seed grower was the pedigreed grand aggregate winner in this year’s North American Seed Fair, a competition that has been running since 1897.
Willms and other southern Alberta seed growers regularly enter the competition, which displayed winners at the Ag Expo trade show held Feb. 26-28 in Lethbridge.
“For me, for the pedigreed, it’s kind of like marketing,” said Willms. “People see your seed, and look at it. That’s my biggest benefit. And it’s kind of nice to win.”
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Willms said the number of entries has dwindled over the years, an observation confirmed by seed fair vice-chair Rob Wauters. As the number of farms shrinks and the size of farms increases, seed fair entries are lower than in past glory years.
“At least half the entries are from pedigreed seed growers so in the same way that farms have gotten larger and there’s fewer of them, pedigreed seed growers have gotten larger and there’s fewer of them. There’s fewer people entering samples … and even the open classes that are open to anybody, essentially, sort of the same problem. Just fewer farms,” said Wauters.
Southern Alberta is the hotbed of canola seed production, nearly all of it grown under contract to large seed companies. However, there is no category for canola seed at the fair.
“The companies tend not to put samples in seed fairs, so I think that’s part of it as well,” said Wauters. “I think the companies would say they really view the seed fairs as the bastion of traditional seed growers. I think maybe the optics of a larger company entering into that just aren’t good so they choose not to do that.”
Timing is another factor governing entries. Ag Expo used to occur at the end of March, rather than the end of February. Some seed growers aren’t done their cleaning in time to meet the deadline.
Wauters believes the North American Seed Fair is the oldest in Western Canada. Its display of winners at Ag Expo always draws interested onlookers.
“People look. It’s not like people walk by and nobody pays attention to it. There’s still a certain level of interest in it,” Wauters said.
First place winners receive a plaque, and ribbons are offered for subsequent placements. Prize money is provided in the open and youth classes.
A recent addition is seed art, done as a 4-H project and judged by 4-H rather than the regular seed fair judges.
Wauters said there is never a shortage of seed and forage judges in this region, which boasts an Agriculture Canada research centre, a university and a large number of seed breeders.
The open aggregate winner this year was Luke Wipf of Cranford, Alta.
