Question Period Note: PLANT BREEDERS’ RIGHTS

Q1 - Why is the government narrowing the farmers’ privilege exemption — isn’t this a direct attack on farmers’ rights to save and reuse seed?
Q2 – The National Farmers Union (NFU) say these changes will hurt small farmers and benefit multinational seed companies. Is the government prioritizing corporate interests over Canadian producers?
Q3 – Why extend the protection period from 20 to 25 years for certain crops like potatoes, asparagus, and woody plants?
Q4 – How will these changes affect public sector breeding programs and access to new varieties for Canadian producers?

R1 - The proposed amendments clarify and modernize the scope of farmers’ privilege to reflect international best practices and ensure Canada remains competitive in attracting plant breeding investment.

Farmers will still be able to save and reuse seed for cereals and pulses — the crops traditionally covered by this exemption. However, excluding hybrids, fruits, vegetables, and ornamental varieties from the privilege aligns Canada with international practices and ensures plant breeders are fairly compensated for their innovation.
R2 - The Government is committed to supporting Canadian farmers and ensuring they have access to the best plant varieties available. The amendments are designed to encourage domestic and international investment in plant breeding, which benefits all producers — large and small — by increasing crop diversity, resilience, and productivity.

The changes reflect feedback from a broad range of stakeholders, including farmers, industry, researchers, and plant breeders.
R3 - Extending the protection period to 25 years for crops like potatoes, asparagus, and woody plants, reflects the longer breeding cycles and higher development costs associated with these varieties.

This change ensures breeders — including Canadian public and private breeding institutions — have sufficient time to recoup their investments and continue innovating. This targeted adjustment supports long-term food security and climate resilience.
R4 - Public sector breeding institutions, including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Canadian agriculture universities, stand to benefit from stronger intellectual property protections. Enhanced Plant Breeders’ Rights Regulations encourages reinvestment in research and development, helping public breeders bring forward new varieties tailored to Canadian growing conditions. The amendments also support broader access to innovation by ensuring that Canadian producers can benefit from both domestic and international breeding advancements.

The Government of Canada is proposing targeted amendments to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Regulations to modernize Canada’s intellectual property (IP) framework for plant varieties. These changes are designed to align Canada more closely with international standards under the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV’91), enhancing investment in plant breeding and ensuring Canadian producers have access to innovative, high-performing crop varieties.

One of the key amendments involves clarifying the scope of the farmers’ privilege exemption. While farmers will continue to be allowed to save and reuse seed for certain crops — notably cereals and pulses — the exemption will not apply to Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) protected hybrids, fruit, vegetable, or ornamental varieties. This change reflects international norms and aims to ensure breeders are fairly compensated for their work.

The amendments also propose extending the duration of protection for specific crops. For potatoes, asparagus, and woody plants, the protection period will increase from 20 to 25 years. This adjustment recognizes the longer breeding cycles and higher development costs associated with these crops and is intended to support sustained innovation in sectors critical to food security and climate resilience.

Pre-consultations on the proposed changes were held in spring 2024 and captured in a What we heard report: Amendments to the plant breeder's rights regulations. Stakeholders — including farmers, breeders, researchers, and industry groups (domestic and international) — expressed broad support for strengthening Canada’s PBR framework. However, the National Farmers Union (NFU) and a coalition of like-minded organic grower groups strongly opposed the amendments, including criticizing government on the timing of the consultations.

The proposed amendments were published in Canada Gazette, Part I, on August 8, 2025, for a 70-day consultation period, which closed on October 18, 2025.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is analysing the feedback and updating the regulatory impact analysis statement to propose final regulatory amendments in spring 2026.

• The Government is proposing to enhance Canada's intellectual property (IP) framework for new plant varieties, and to better align with international standards by updating the Plant Breeders’ Rights Regulations.
• These proposed amendments will encourage investment in plant breeding and give producers access to a wider range of high performing plant varieties, supporting food security, climate resilience, and sustainable production.
• These changes support farmers’ choice and ensure breeders are fairly compensated for their innovations.
• Strengthening Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights Regulations will reward innovation in Canada and help keep Canadian agriculture globally competitive.