Proposed Value Creation Model puts a Focus on Research

At the joint meeting of the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association and Canadian Seed Trade Association in Whistler, B.C. today, a third proposed model for value creation was introduced.

The model is known as a Collective Research model and joins the End-Point Royalty and Seed Value Use Agreement (SVUA) models previously introduced. It's been put forward by the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, Keystone Agricultural Producers and the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.

The Collective Research model (also referred to as a levy-based approach) is still being defined, according to a document handed out by the Seed Synergy Collaboration Project, which notes it is proposed as a grain levy collected at point-of-sale on cereal production. An alternative scenario is to collect the levy on all production of all crops across Canada.

PROS

Collection efficiency: could take advantage of existing systems, with some modifications, to collect the levy.

Fewer collection points.

Direct involvement by producers in deciding how a portion of the levy will be spent.

CONS

Producers do not chose to participate — a levy is collected on all varieties.

Relies on those outside of the seed industry (grain buyers) to collect, administer and control the process.

Leakage: grain exported directly by a producer or used for feed grain could escape the levy (not a level playing field for producers).

Breeding programs will only get paid once the crop is delivered to an elevator, which can take months or even years.

Does not provide for a level playing field between the public and private plant breeding programs.

Will require new legislation, which will take five to 10 years to put into place.

How would the model work?

Producer purchases seed

Levy applied in all cases regardless of seed source and age of variety.

Producer harvests crop

Producer ships grain to elevator or processor and declares the variety name(s) on every grain delivery.

Royalty payment

Grain elevator/processor deducts a levy or the total amount of grain shipped from grain settlement. A system would also need to be developed for on-farm use and direct grain exports. Grain elevator/processor remits collected payment for each variety to Collective Research system.

Payment distribution

Collective Research system distributes one portion of the funds collected to plant breeding programs and another portion to a “collective pool”. A new producer organization will be tasked with identifying the collective research priorities and distributing funds to projects addressing those priorities.

Compliance

Auditing requirements not yet determined, but would need to incorporate on-farm use and direct grain exports.

For more info visit seedvaluecreation.ca

Source: Seed Synergy Collaboration Project

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