National Plant Breeding Strategy

A National Plant Breeding Strategy Must Work for Every Crop

September 2026

Producer groups and industry organizations from across Canada have come together to call for a national plant breeding strategy that recognizes the unique realities of every crop, region, and farmer. This joint vision, A National Plant Breeding Strategy Must Work for Every Crop, outlines what is needed to build a stronger, more innovative Canadian plant breeding system.

For crops where market size and royalty economics limit private-sector breeding investment – including oats, food-grade soybeans, wheat and barley grown in Eastern Canada, canola grown in Ontario, and some pulse crops grown in parts of the country – public investment is essential to ensuring a steady supply of new varieties and keeping these crops viable in farmers’ rotations and available to end users.

The statement has been endorsed by the Atlantic Grains Council, Producteurs de grains du Québec, Grain Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Bean Growers, Ontario Canola Growers Association, Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers, Prairie Oat Growers Association, Alberta Pulse Growers, and SeCan.

Together, the organizations supporting this statement share the following vision:

A plant breeding system that recognizes the unique realities of each crop, is anchored in stable public investment where needed, is responsive to regional growing conditions, and delivers a steady pipeline of varieties that are beneficial to farmers, customers, and Canada’s food system.

While the path forward to achieving this vision is still developing, the optimal plant breeding system for these crops will:

Deliver superior, regionally adapted, field-ready varieties that meet the agronomic and end-use needs of each region;
Match breeding technologies and approaches to the scale, objectives, and economics of each crop and breeding program;
Recognize farmer contributions, including royalties and check-off investments, as private investments in the breeding system;
Enable public and private investment to work together, particularly where private-sector investment is limited;
Maintain intellectual property protections that support innovation and competitiveness without compromising farm profitability or breeders’ access to genetic diversity and breeding material;
Provide stable, predictable, long-term public investment in breeding talent and testing infrastructure;
Measure the value of breeding investment through broader benefits to Canada, including diversified crop rotations, food security, export opportunities, farm resilience, and domestic processing; and
Maintain strong connections between breeders, farmers, and end users while supporting a pragmatic regulatory and commercialization system.

A national breeding strategy must recognize that different crops require different pathways to success. Canada needs a plant breeding system that works for every farmer, every region, and every crop it is meant to serve. Our strength lies in the diversity of crops grown across the country, and our plant breeding system should reflect and support that same diversity.

The full joint vision, A National Plant Breeding Strategy Must Work for Every Crop, is available below.