Canada's reputation as a world leader in innovation, food safety and quality could be in jeopardy unless more farmers use certified seed to grow their crops.

A new study released today by the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA) shows farmers have widely varying practices and attitudes toward certified seed, demonstrating the need for better understanding of its benefits.

"These statistics have obvious implications for traceability in crops like durum wheat, malt barley and pulses in identity preserved (IP) situations," said Lorne Hadley, Executive Director of the CPTA. "In addition, use of unregistered varieties could threaten Canada's reputation as a quality supplier."

The CPTA engaged Blacksheep Strategy to conduct market research to assess the use of, and attitudes toward, common and certified seed in western Canada.

The findings show that the quality standards of certified seed are fairly well established in the minds of farmers. However, the economic value farmers can obtain from higher quality seed has not been recognized across all crops and farm operations.

The percentage of certified acres in the Prairie provinces ranged from 92% of canola to 14% of peas. Certified seed use is highest in Manitoba, though the rationale for using certified seed is similar across the Prairies. For all crops other than canola, the key benefit was "getting new varieties".

In canola, quality was the key driver. Although the quality of certified seed is evident to most producers, the "benefit gap" between common and certified seed is not understood well enough. Other than canola, farmers either use certified seed regularly or don't use much at all. Larger farmers and those with higher incomes tend to use certified seed more extensively and demonstrate more favourable attitudes towards its economic value.

"Besides ensuring higher quality, certified seed also leads to greater advances in plant varieties," said Hadley. "Plant breeders have to gain returns from their research to continue to produce new varieties, which in turn improves the productivity and profitability of farmers".

The telephone survey, conducted in February 2004, involved 800 western Canadian farmers. Respondents had a minimum of 640 acres under crop and were not pedigreed seed growers. When analyzed in its entirety, a sample of this size provides a confidence level of 95% +/- 3.5%.

The Canadian Plant Technology Agency is an industry-driven organization established to protect intellectual property rights pertaining to crop development. The CPTA also works to raise awareness of plant property rights.