FarmTech 15 --- An Update on the Crop Variety Registration Evaluation Process

In 2013, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Grain Commission collaborated on an Options Paper to describe crop variety registration and identify possible changes. From August to November, an online engagement period allowed respondents to support one of four possible options. The first, “allow the flexibility inherent in the current VR system to emerge,” was supported by 37% of respondents, while 57% supported the other three, including:

1. Streamline regulatory process by requiring that all crops meet minimum registration requirement with the option for some crops to have merit assessment through an independent assessment process (27%)
2. Streamline regulatory process by maintaining a minimum level of federal government oversight (similar to the current Part III), and eliminate any merit assessment or performance data under the VR system (17%)
3. Withdrawal of federal government oversight role in VR, allowing industry or third parties to assume these functions (13%)

Related: New Canola Variety Shows Some Resistance to 5X Clubroot Pathotype

“The system we have right now was really introduced in 2009, under the last review of the system,” Canterra Seeds’ Erin Armstrong told Shaun Haney at FarmTech this year, explaining that the review is largely driven by the government’s desire to modernize current regulatory environments.

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