Just thinking how our costs are going to escalate, and how UN-competitive growers will be , as government will have to pay for everything.
My thoughts are random, no particular order, we have to lower our cost of production and improve our competitiveness.
- the public plant breeding structure is a essential service ! The jobs, intellectual property, infrastructure, the germ plasm, etc
- the public system is linked to the other public institutions such as the university,
- always access to fresh, motivated, energetic young minds, access to knowledge, physiologists, statisticians, pathologists, all under one roof. This network of expertise can be leveraged and built upon where private sector does not. As well they current system fosters international cooperation such as the development of the wheat genomes ( I’m sure private would have wanted to patent that, and if private is so damn good, why didn’t they sequence it????)
- the public breeding g system has contributed unbelievable growth, value, innovation, within in current government / university structure, building the public trust. Canada is a leader in exports, quality, reputation, etc what other countries or plant breeding systems are out competing Canada to the point where many consider the current system to be broken?
- the current system is in fact so successful that other countries are stealing Canadian farmer check off dollars, and varieties to grow and out compete Canada with a lower cost of production. How can private sector stop this?
Perhaps by using university ingenuity our whole system should move to hybrids, or use other techniques to build a strong seed grower industry for Canadians where they would have poor success growing in other regions many generations of the same variety
- seed regulatory modernization is private sector telling govt they can save money by not funding, this is true, as it is the same argument for privatization of school system, hospitals, policing, etc. Fact is private sector has lobby offices in Ottawa ( moved from Winnipeg) to develop liaison and connections with appropriate government officials,
- durum varieties when I started farming there were basically a couple of them. Now there have been over a dozen new varieties in the last few years. Why haven’t the private sector contributed more, because of the reasons listed above. This is why Canada is a leader in many crop class types.
- what varieties, for any crops have come from other breeding programs, or other countries around the world? Name me the varieties !
The Canadian Seed Trade Association, have they been exporting our varieties to other Canadian competitive countries around the world? Have they been able to bring new varieties or genetics to Canada?
I am not a seed grower, plant breeder, or connected to the industry. But it’s sure easy to see how the private system has actually undermined the globally renowned public breeding program in Canada. Yes funding has to come from some place, costing is higher than its ever been. The public system has been the growth catelist for decades, through tough times of the 80’s , challenges of the 70’s, etc but they were a institution through good and bad times.
Private sector we have seen sygenta pull out, leave, give up, leave, abandon, etc as they were challenged with hybrid wheats, management, and share holder demands for higher profits.
I bet with additional funding our CDC and universities could knock out some home runs. Infrastructure wins with transparency, accountability, representing clearly defined stakeholders. There is no reason why we can’t have a parallel system public and private to maintain Canada’s competitive interests, unless we want to look at the railway system, monopoly, and how profit motivated they are and at who’s expense or at what cost.
Ok I’m done for this morning, what a beauty out there!
My thoughts are random, no particular order, we have to lower our cost of production and improve our competitiveness.
- the public plant breeding structure is a essential service ! The jobs, intellectual property, infrastructure, the germ plasm, etc
- the public system is linked to the other public institutions such as the university,
- always access to fresh, motivated, energetic young minds, access to knowledge, physiologists, statisticians, pathologists, all under one roof. This network of expertise can be leveraged and built upon where private sector does not. As well they current system fosters international cooperation such as the development of the wheat genomes ( I’m sure private would have wanted to patent that, and if private is so damn good, why didn’t they sequence it????)
- the public breeding g system has contributed unbelievable growth, value, innovation, within in current government / university structure, building the public trust. Canada is a leader in exports, quality, reputation, etc what other countries or plant breeding systems are out competing Canada to the point where many consider the current system to be broken?
- the current system is in fact so successful that other countries are stealing Canadian farmer check off dollars, and varieties to grow and out compete Canada with a lower cost of production. How can private sector stop this?
Perhaps by using university ingenuity our whole system should move to hybrids, or use other techniques to build a strong seed grower industry for Canadians where they would have poor success growing in other regions many generations of the same variety
- seed regulatory modernization is private sector telling govt they can save money by not funding, this is true, as it is the same argument for privatization of school system, hospitals, policing, etc. Fact is private sector has lobby offices in Ottawa ( moved from Winnipeg) to develop liaison and connections with appropriate government officials,
- durum varieties when I started farming there were basically a couple of them. Now there have been over a dozen new varieties in the last few years. Why haven’t the private sector contributed more, because of the reasons listed above. This is why Canada is a leader in many crop class types.
- what varieties, for any crops have come from other breeding programs, or other countries around the world? Name me the varieties !
The Canadian Seed Trade Association, have they been exporting our varieties to other Canadian competitive countries around the world? Have they been able to bring new varieties or genetics to Canada?
I am not a seed grower, plant breeder, or connected to the industry. But it’s sure easy to see how the private system has actually undermined the globally renowned public breeding program in Canada. Yes funding has to come from some place, costing is higher than its ever been. The public system has been the growth catelist for decades, through tough times of the 80’s , challenges of the 70’s, etc but they were a institution through good and bad times.
Private sector we have seen sygenta pull out, leave, give up, leave, abandon, etc as they were challenged with hybrid wheats, management, and share holder demands for higher profits.
I bet with additional funding our CDC and universities could knock out some home runs. Infrastructure wins with transparency, accountability, representing clearly defined stakeholders. There is no reason why we can’t have a parallel system public and private to maintain Canada’s competitive interests, unless we want to look at the railway system, monopoly, and how profit motivated they are and at who’s expense or at what cost.
Ok I’m done for this morning, what a beauty out there!
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