Levy to stimulate wheat research likely to spark debate too

Monday, January 26, 2009

© Copyright AgMedia Inc

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

A Huron wheat grower hopes a proposal to charge a levy on crop sales to recoup the costs of variety development stimulates debate at the provincial wheat organization’s delegates’ conference in March.

Bev Hill, whose Varna-based Hill and Hill Farms also sells wheat seed, proposed the idea of the levy to his county wheat producers’ annual meeting earlier this month. Growers liked the idea enough to pass a resolution.

Over the past decade, use of certified wheat seed has dropped to less than 30 per cent from 70 -75 per cent of Ontario’s annual wheat crops, Hill says. Why would seed companies invest in breeding a variety that “simply gets pirated?”

“Our concern is that it takes five to seven years to get new varieties to the market; it costs well in excess of a million dollars,” Hill says. As use of certified seed drops, prices go up as breeders try to recoup their costs from fewer producers.

He says the idea of the levy stemmed from a discussion at a producer meeting held at his farm last summer.

Hill says the Huron County resolution calls for a levy to be collected on the sale of wheat. It would go into a fund for wheat seed research and development. The Ontario Wheat Producers Marketing Board would monitor the fund. Those who could offer proof of purchase of certified seed would qualify for reimbursement.

The resolution is being circulated to other district wheat producer groups and Hill says it is earning interest.

Ron Harnack, who farms 800 acres of wheat, corn and soybeans in Wellington County and the Waterloo Region, heard about the proposal at the Waterloo wheat producers’ annual meeting Jan. 21. He’s not impressed.

“I don’t think it should have ever been brought up,” Harnack says, noting the wheat breeding companies are “looking at this all wrong.” They should “learn to live on the 100,000 acres worth of wheat being grown from certified seed instead of trying to live off the backs of farmers.”

David Whaley, chair of the provincial wheat board, says he hasn’t seen the resolution yet but isn’t surprised at its appearance. The issue was first raised at the board’s meeting in Stratford last year.

“There’s certainly a valid argument on both sides,” he says, pointing out that farmers believe it’s their right to be able to save seed. It can cost $30 an acre more to plant certified seed, he adds. “That’s significant dollars.”

On the other side of the coin is the seed industry. If it can’t sell enough to justify investment in research, then it’s “pointless” for them to make the effort to develop new varieties.

“It’ll be good to have some debate on this,” Whaley says. BF