Seed royalty questions..

[furrowtickler]

The golden rule
He who makes the rules gets the gold.

I do not think , new rules will give seed breeders less money.
The. Best we can hope for is to create some kind of
Real competition in the business.

We know It does not happen now. There is no 6$ / lb
Canola seed is there..

Maybe the Chinese in the end , will step up ,will save us from the strangle hold .

Of use agreements . And regulatory hurdles, that protect
Bayer and others from real competition.
Protection from
from even 30 year old varieties.


You can try and Make sure there are doors , for open competition.
But that is a dream.
They are too well connected

Sleeping in the same bed as conservatives.
And while the liberals may not sleep with
Them. You do not piss off a good paying
Supporter.

You will get lip service to your concerns bucket.
Then they enact whatever the big boys
Want.
And by the way , you can keep and replant
Any seed from before 1980

Sad thing is on your last sentence is very true but ... no one will buy it unless you feed it through livestock...
They will force grain farmers onto the treadmill or be tossed off. But once on the treadmill, be prepared to work hard for Walmart salaries. Get big, follow their rules or be forced out . Will be not much inbetween.
Will be a very interesting game to play as this all unfolds .

[grassfarmer]

Sad thing is on your last sentence is very true but ... no one will buy it unless you feed it through livestock...
They will force grain farmers onto the treadmill or be tossed off. But once on the treadmill, be prepared to work hard for Walmart salaries. Get big, follow their rules or be forced out . Will be not much inbetween.
Will be a very interesting game to play as this all unfolds .

Yet when someone suggests an alternative you dismiss it out of hand?

[furrowtickler]

Yet when someone suggests an alternative you dismiss it out of hand?

Like what ?
There are many alternatives to beef ... tread carefully....
BTW I still live my beef 🥩👍, and will never cut down the everyday cattleman .. you should think about that here as well

[grassfarmer]

Like what ?

Like the agroecology article. It seemingly contains potential solutions to many of the problems posters are constantly complaining about on here.
Overpriced fertilizer
Overpriced chemicals that don't work properly and the consumer hates anyway
Being able to use farm saved seed
Maintaining yields and greatly increasing the profitability of your farm
Improving the image of farming in the eyes of the non-farm dwelling consumer.

How can farmers fail to be excited, intrigued or curious about how such an approach might work for them? Instead it's met with the usual dismissal and hatred because the word "organic" was mentioned and we all hate organic, they're the enemy. So back into bed you jump with the guys selling you the high priced inputs and not paying enough for your produce that you say are causing your farms to be economically unsustainable. Is it Stockholm syndrome or what am I not getting?

[bucket]

Sorry to switch gears here...but can someone answer questions about the CDC...

1. Its owned by the U of S ...right?

2. Varieties with CDC in front of them are developed by them?

3. Why isn't that a profit centre as they sell those varieties to CPS, Monsanto, Bayer, Basf and others..

4. Since the CDC is funded by taxpayers shouldn't the public own those varieties to the point of sale and the sale price should include all costs to that point plus profit plus a ROI to the funders...whether it be the taxpayer, the checkoffs or the excess freight from WGRF?

Or am I just tupid?

[farming101]

Sorry to switch gears here...but can someone answer questions about the CDC...

1. Its owned by the U of S ...right?

2. Varieties with CDC in front of them are developed by them?

3. Why isn't that a profit centre as they sell those varieties to CPS, Monsanto, Bayer, Basf and others..

4. Since the CDC is funded by taxpayers shouldn't the public own those varieties to the point of sale and the sale price should include all costs to that point plus profit plus a ROI to the funders...whether it be the taxpayer, the checkoffs or the excess freight from WGRF?

Or am I just tupid?

WGRF reports royalty income. I don't know if CDC sells varieties or if a royalty share is all they get?

http://westerngrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Final-WGRF_2017AnnualReport_Web.pdf http://westerngrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Final-WGRF_2017AnnualReport_Web.pdf

[walterm]

If all seed companies books look like that I don't think they are suffering too much. If not! I don't think it is a funding problem.

[seedsman]

REPLY to Bucket re: CDC

1. I think the CDC is part of the U of S, but they have partners that partially fund certain breeding programs.

2. Yes

3. As far as I am aware, I don't think CDC "sells" any varieties. They usually licence the multiplication and distribution rights to seed organizations, after accepting bids from interested parties. The seed organization (could be a company, grower group, individual seed grower or Co-op) then multiplies this seed for a few years, and then hopes to sell this seed to commercial farmers. At this stage, the seed company sends a royalty of a certain amount per unit back to CDC. One noteable exception to this was CDC Go wheat. When CDC put it up for tender, no one bid on it because it didn't look the the variety had much potential, so had CDC released it free to seed growers. In some areas of the prairies, it was the most popular wheat for a few years.

A big part of the CDC program is pulse breeding, and most of those varieties have been released royalty free to Saskatchewan growers for the last 15 years or so. The last few years, AB and MB growers have had to pay royalties to use the newest CDC pulse varieties. This agreement with SPG is scheduled to end soon, and CDC is looking for a new system.

4. I think CDC is looking at all funding options now.

[bucket]

REPLY to Bucket re: CDC

1. I think the CDC is part of the U of S, but they have partners that partially fund certain breeding programs.

2. Yes

3. As far as I am aware, I don't think CDC "sells" any varieties. They usually licence the multiplication and distribution rights to seed organizations, after accepting bids from interested parties. The seed organization (could be a company, grower group, individual seed grower or Co-op) then multiplies this seed for a few years, and then hopes to sell this seed to commercial farmers. At this stage, the seed company sends a royalty of a certain amount per unit back to CDC. One noteable exception to this was CDC Go wheat. When CDC put it up for tender, no one bid on it because it didn't look the the variety had much potential, so had CDC released it free to seed growers. In some areas of the prairies, it was the most popular wheat for a few years.

A big part of the CDC program is pulse breeding, and most of those varieties have been released royalty free to Saskatchewan growers for the last 15 years or so. The last few years, AB and MB growers have had to pay royalties to use the newest CDC pulse varieties. This agreement with SPG is scheduled to end soon, and CDC is looking for a new system.

4. I think CDC is looking at all funding options now.

More questions

Isn't tendering a form of selling and the royalties should be enough to cover the costs?

So can anyone go in and buy or submit a bid on the tender for a new variety?

Whats Saskpulse's /CDC plan after giving away a few varieties to processors to become private label????...A gift for a select few ...maybe thats where the focus should be???

[bucket]

I also notice the pop ups on this site for new varieties have testimonials by the seed farms not the end user farmer....sort of like car salesman...