We Need More Than Just Checkoff Dollars to Bring New Seed to Farmers

The funding landscape for seed development is more complicated than it used to be. While producer levies are crucial, they’re just one piece of the puzzle.

A significant portion of plant breeding is funded through producer checkoffs, levies collected from farmers when they sell their crops. These funds are directed towards research and development, including plant breeding initiatives, with the goal of improving crop varieties and enhancing agricultural productivity.

While check-off dollars are an important source of funding for plant breeding, University of Saskatchewan economist Stuart Smyth is part of a growing chorus of industry stakeholders sounding the alarm: checkoffs likely cannot be the sole funding source for the development of new seed varieties, and as the world evolves, so does the need for new funding sources to ensure the latest genetics are brought to farmers everywhere.

He helped author the report Economic Impact Assessment of Alberta Grains Research Investments, conducted this year by the Valgen Group and commissioned by Alberta Grains. It shows that from 2012 to 2022, Alberta Grains, using its check-off funding model, invested over $37 million — equivalent to $41.7 million in 2023 dollars when adjusted for inflation, with every dollar invested in variety development generating around $3.80 of value.

“You can see in the report there that Alberts Grains got an exceptionally good rate of return on the investments they’ve made in terms of allocating check-off dollars. That said, one of the highlights that came out of that report is how research today is really a collaborative, effort,” he says.

“You’ve got Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) putting in money, the universities, and then that’s being matched by entities like Alberta Grains, SaskWheat, provincial commodity organizations, the list goes on. We’re seeing a lot of Prairie-wide support for variety development that benefits Alberta farmers.”

That support is needed as the federal government gradually pulls back funding, something it’s been doing for decades now.

“In an ideal world, the federal government, whether it’s through AAFC or the National Research Council, would put in a little bit higher amount than they’ve been putting in through the five-year research plans AAFC has been using now for just over 20 years,” he says.

“But when you take inflation into account over the last 20 years, ultimately, the federal government is putting less money into variety development than they were 15 or 20 years ago.”

Why?

“At the federal level, there’s a lot of demands on how public dollars are spent. We’ve got health care, immigration, military spending, all these different categories. So, for agriculture to sit at the cabinet table and say, ‘We need an extra $300 million,’ you’ve got to present a really robust case to say this investment will provide real benefits to Canadian agriculture and consumers as a whole,” Smyth says.

“That’s why it’s important for commodity organizations to do these types of studies and say, ‘Look, we’re providing solid value to the Canadian economy with these new varieties of seed that are being developed.’”