Opportunities and Obstacles for Private Plant Breeding in Canada

Competition within the plant breeding and crop development sector is important to motivate the efficient production of more and better crop varieties for farmers. One way to increase competition in the Canadian system, where many crops have few breeding programs, is to support the existence of private plant breeding companies.

Plant breeding start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are abundant and successful in other countries. So, why not in Canada? Why is Canada primarily reliant on the public sector for crop variety development? To find out, I embarked on a Nuffield scholarship to explore the opportunities and obstacles for private plant breeding in Canada by comparing the industry in Canada to that in other countries.

There is no proven formula for starting or funding a new private plant breeding company, with most companies responding to the needs in their environment and being innovative within the system in which they exist. Internationally, of the businesses I consulted, some companies started as purely private and developed their own germplasm pipeline, some companies formed when public breeding programs split and the public resources were made available to private companies, and other private companies started with public resources. In terms of funding, some companies were founded by groups of farmers, by distributors, or through outside investment, and others by, or with the assistance of, public, private, or commission funding. However funded, program funding, as opposed to project funding, was viewed as more successful in ensuring sustainable innovation.