PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. – Canada’s sunflower industry wants to opt out of the crop variety registration system so that growers can receive quicker access to new sunflower varieties.
The National Sunflower Association of Canada hopes the change can happen as early as this spring.
Approval is needed from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which makes the final decision about which potential new varieties to register.
“I’m hoping by April we’re going to have that approval,” NSAC executive director Mel Reimer said during the association’s annual meeting in Portage on Dec. 1.
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“I think there’s every sense that we’re going to have that.”
Hybrid sunflower varieties grown in Western Canada tend to be developed by companies in the United States.
Under the current system, new varieties often are released to American growers two years before they become commercially available in Canada.
That gives American growers an advantage because they have quicker access to sunflowers with improved agronomics and quality traits.
The removal of crop variety registration for sunflowers in Canada should mean that new hybrids become commercially available to growers on both sides of the border at the same time, Reimer said.
In its proposal to the CFIA, the association sought assurances that there still would be an onus on companies to test potential new varieties before releasing them to growers.
“They will have to commit to two years of independent testing through our association, at the company’s expense, to provide independent data that farmers can look at,” Reimer said.
Meanwhile, the association is encouraging American seed companies to look more closely at the varietal needs of Canadian sunflower growers.
