Ag Days 2016
Feeding cows
Rolling into the new year » PGs 33 to 68
For profitable calves » PG 13
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 1 | $1.75
January 7, 2016
Tracking down illicit seed sellers
undercover buyers
Operation Ag Careers to launch in 2016 An on-line resource encourages Canadian Armed Forces retirees to eye a second career in agriculture BY LORRAINE STEVENSON
manitobacooperator.ca
Private investigators are helping the seed trade enforce plant breeders’ rights
Co-operator staff
A
pilot project being launched early this year aims to put some muscle behind the notion of farming with ‘military precision.’ Operation Ag Careers is targeting the thousands of men and women retiring from the armed forces every year as potential recruits for the thousands of jobs available in agriculture. The joint project of the Canadian Association of Agri Retailers (CAAR) and the Canadian Agricultural Resource Council (CAHRC) wants to ensure retiring military personnel know there are great careers awaiting them in agriculture — and that having a background in agriculture isn’t necessarily a prerequisite. The online resource is designed to help retiring army, navy and air force personnel explore new agricultural careers and match individual’s skills to any one of the tens of thousands of jobs available in the sector. An estimated 5,000 men and women retire each year from the military, Canadian Association See AG CAREERS on page 6 »
New Plant Breeders’ Rights rules under UPOV ’91 give seed companies the option of tracking down those who infringe on those rights through the entire grain system. Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, says pedigreed seed growers need to help communicate the new regulations to their farmer-customers. PHOTO : ALLAN DAWSON
BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
U
ndercover private investigators are helping nab seed dealers suspected of contravening Canadian Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) regulations, the executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA) says. Lorne Hadley told the Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association’s annual meeting in Winnipeg Dec. 10 his agency has coordinated 70 investigations resulting in “a number of cases going to court,” all of which were settled prior to trial. In four
cases, alleged violators paid seed companies $200,000 in compensation. Hadley said the agency sometimes turns to private investigators, usually retired police officers, to go undercover to buy seed from suspected violators. “To pursue a lawsuit in Canada you must present the facts as you know them,” he said. “So in a Plant Breeders’ Rights case that involves the sale of seed, the best evidence is for you to make a purchase.” But more often, it just takes a warning letter or phone call to get compliance from people on the wrong side of the seed laws, Hadley said. The CPTA has issued 700 warning letters and emails to alleged PBR violators, he said.
Either way, the goal is to convince farmers that breeders need compensation for their innovation, which will encourage more and ultimately benefit farmers, he said. “No CPTA member makes a profit out of enforcement,” Hadley said. “It’s too expensive.”
Longer reach New Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) rules under the international treaty UPOV ’91 ratified in Canada almost a year ago allow seed companies to enforce their rights throughout the grain system. See ILLICIT SEED on page 6 »
GRAIN TRAINS: CN and CP exceed revenue cap » PAGE 3