The Canadian seed industry held some important conversations during the Seeds Canada Annual Conference in Saskatoon, SK July 6-8. With more than 180 attendees representing government, grower organizations, and the seed value chain, speakers and panelists explored the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, leaving us with a mandate to create alignment and build on the momentum coming out of the conference.
“We will keep pushing for progress on key regulatory and trade issues, continue addressing barriers to innovation, and keep highlighting the essential role of seed in sustainability and in Canada’s food and agriculture future,” former Seeds Canada President Brent Collins told attendees. “The opportunities ahead are significant, and I’m confident Seeds Canada is ready to meet them.”
Here are three key takeaways for the industry:
- Together we are stronger.
- Canada must seize the opportunity to strengthen our position as a global leader in agriculture.
- The seed industrywill find solutions to our challenges if we take a bold and audacious approach.
1. Together we are stronger.
On the opening morning, panelists Paul Hoekstra of the Grain Farmers of Ontario, Jocelyn Velestuk from the Canadian Wheat Research Coalition and Kenny Piecharka from KWS Seeds Canada discussed their ideas for a next generation variety development system. While the group agreed with Piecharka’s statement that getting innovation into farmers’ hands is a national competitiveness challenge, they also said they see the need for the industry to come together to build a better pipeline of crop varieties.
“It’s amazing when you get a common vision in agriculture,” said Velestuk. “Collaboration and competition are both important, and we see in other countries that a healthy mix of both is a good thing.”
For a real life example of successful sector cooperation, look no further than last year’s updates to Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) regulations, according to Anthony Parker, Canada’s PBR Commissioner. With thorough consultation and coordinated input from the seed industry, positive updates have been made to modernize PBR. And the PBR office is prepared to work with the seed sector once there is consensus on additional improvements, he said.
A strong, united approach that shares the science and the story of the importance of seed treatments to farmers could help stop anti-science regulations from migrating further into Canada from Europe, Qu é bec and several US states. Panelists Jordan Gregory of the American Seed Trade Association, Luc Bourgeois from Bayer CropScience, Jean-Francois Patenaude from Réseau Vegetal de Québec, and Amy Meloche from Syngenta discussed the crucial need for the agriculture industry to tell regulators their story.
Unfortunately, opponents who would see neonicotinoids and their replacement products banned are telling a compelling story of their own, and Canadian agriculture could lose access to both current and future products, said Bourgeois. To counter this, Gregory encouraged Canadian ag companies to act as the experts for regulators, to invite them into facilities and share real world examples of how seed treatment products contributed to sustainable crop production. The voice of many is stronger than just one or a few, said Bourgeois.
2. Canada must seize the opportunity to strengthen our position as a global leader in agriculture.
The message from keynote speakers John Stackhouse of RBC and Saskatchewan Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding could not have been clearer: “We’re no longer chasing investment. Investment is chasing us,” said Kaeding. However, we need to urgently work on infrastructure such as rail and ports if we are to take advantage of it, Stackhouse clarified.
Further, Canadians may be playing with artificial intelligence, but Canadian businesses should get serious about integrating it, he said. “If we are not being as ambitious as we can be, rest assured our competitors are.”
This ambitious approach is helping fuel Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) Let’s Grow Canada initiative, explained Des Sobool of FCC. For example, Canada needs to replace some of the $45.6 billion in food we import from the US with products processed here, he said.
The optimism over opportunity is echoed by biofuels panelists Patrick Bergermann of Federated Co-operatives Limited and Chris Vervaet, former Executive Director of the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association. Canada will soon be producing more than 7 million tonnes of vegetable oil per year and crushers will be able to process 75% of the crop, Bergermann told the crowd. Federal biofuel policy is helping bring 62 cents a bushel back to farmers, added Vervaet.
“It’s a win-win – good for the environment and good for the canola industry, but we have to be careful about putting all our eggs in one basket,” he said. “We should continue to keep our options open in critical markets like the US.”
3. The seed industrywill findsolutions to our challenges if we take a bold and audacious approach.
The Canadian seed sector is already seeing some bold ideas take hold. Ideas like the pea breeding partnership between the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS), the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Association (SPGA), DL Seeds and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). Partners Karen Churchill of GIFS, Sherrilyn Phelps of SPG, Francois Eudes of AAFC and Chris Anderson from DL Seeds shared the circumstances that brought the collaborators together.
To make the pulse industry in Canada successful, there has to be a way to accelerate breeding efforts, and partnership helps individual investments go further, explained Phelps. With the leadership of GIFS, they gained confidence that their data would be shared in a secure, confidential way, added Anderson.
“As an industry we need to consider our appetite for risk,” he said. “Be willing to put your germplasm, your data out there. I do hope this spills over into other crops. Willingness to work together has accelerated results.”
As the final panel of the conference explored modernizing Canada’s Variety Registration System, the desire for bold action became clear, starting with a call to hold discussions like this in public spaces rather than dark corners. ModeratorSheri Strydhorst of Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR), and panelists Jeff Jackson of SeedNet, Lorena Pahl of Limagrain, and Cory Solheim from SPG share a desire to speed the time to market for peas, lentils, faba beans, rye, triticale and flax. Currently, the overly cautious, drawn out registration process is driving investment away from Canada, and preventing innovation from reaching Canadian farmers, said Solheim.
“To be competitive in today’s market, farmers don’t need our protection, they need better genetics faster,” she added.
The current variety registration system was not designed for peas, lentils and faba beans, said Jackson. While his fellow panelists agree the system needs to change, they will now shift focus to the steps to make their changes a regulatory reality.
“We’re thinking about it and starting a conversation to bring value and adjust a system that isn’t providing value,” he said. “We have to be bold and address challenges. Be audacious and proactive and bring big ideas out in the open.”
Seeds Canada Awards of Excellence
During the conference, Seeds Canada presented its 2026 Awards of Excellence to two people known for their dedication and outspoken support of Canada’s seed industry: Georges Chaussé and Senator Rob Black.
The Seeds Canada Award of Excellence recognizes individuals or teams nominated by Seeds Canada members for their outstanding contributions to the seed industry.
The Seeds Canada team is already planning for next year’s conference July 5-7 in Toronto, ON. For more information on this year’s event and conference content, contact Kelly Funke, Director of Communications.