Please circulate widely!

Action Alert – Public Input on Regulations Amending the Seeds Regulations, Canada

Gazette Part 1 VOL. 147, NO. 10 — MARCH 9, 2013

Deadline for submissions — May 23, 2013

The National Farmers Union is calling upon all concerned farmers and allies to submit comments about significant regulatory changes to Seed Variety Registration.

The proposed regulatory change has been posted in the Canada Gazette Part 1 and will be passed into law as is unless large numbers of citizens make their opposition known.

The changes proposed will have two critical effects: move registration of soybeans and all forages from Part I to Part III of Schedule III under the Seeds Regulations; and permit registrants to cancel the variety’s registration. This will make seed sales of that variety illegal and require that crops grown from that variety be classified as sample or lowest price and quality.

Crop kinds under Part I will continue to be treated the way all varieties have been until now; before a new variety is registered it must meet merit criteria (i.e., it must perform as well as or better than reference varieties for one or more criteria established for that crop kind); and it must be recommended by a Recommending Committee of experts familiar with the crop. Under Part III, a variety can be registered without field-testing or proof of merit. The registering company only has to provide basic variety registration information to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

The proposed change in regulation will also allow companies that have registered a variety to de-register it without giving reasons or notice.

The implications of these regulatory changes for farmers are far-reaching. If adopted, the regulation will:

• Permit companies to take varieties off the market whenever they like, which will increasingly force farmers to use only varieties subject to royalties under the Plant Breeders Rights Act or varieties with gene patents, and thereby pay more for seed.
• Empower companies to introduce new varieties of soybeans and forage crops – including alfalfa – that have not been field-tested for merit and which therefore may not provide any benefit to farmers.
• Allow seed companies to transfer to farmers’ shoulders all risks of poor seed/crop performance when planting varieties that have not been field tested by independent third parties.
• Transfer decision-making about which new varieties are introduced, and when, from a transparent, publicly accountable process based on expert advice offered by Recommending Committees to a behind-closed-door process controlled by private seed companies.
• Letting companies de-register varieties will permit companies to unilaterally stop farmers from accessing and using perfectly good varieties developed through long-term collaboration among farmers, public plant breeders and international seed collections.

For more information about Seed Variety Registration:

• The National Farmers Union’s submission to CFIA: http://www.nfu.ca/story/nfu-comments-regulations-amending-seeds-regulations
• The National Farmers Union 2009 press release and backgrounder on the variety registration system: http://www.nfu.ca/story/government-ignores-concerns-variety-registration-change-and-plows-ahead-anyway
• The Proposed Regulations: http://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2013/2013-03-09/html/reg1-eng.html#reg
• The CFIA’s Regulatory Impact Statement: http://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2013/2013-03-09/html/reg1-eng.html#rias

Deadline for submissions is May 23, 2013

All submissions must:

1. cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and
2. the date of publication of the notice (March 9, 2013), and
3. be addressed to:

Michael Scheffel,

National Manager, Seed Section,

Canadian Food Inspection Agency,

59 Camelot Drive,

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0Y9

tel.: 613-773-7142

fax: 613-773-7144

email: Michael.Scheffel@inspection.gc.ca

Everyone is chomping at the bit to get the 2013 registration forms and after some technical difficulties with our websites here they are. Thank you for your patience!

Click here to download 2013 Vendors application and here for rules and regulations.

For baking vendors please fill in this additional page, and for produce and fruit vendors please use this page as well.

The Farmers’ Market office at the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Centre is now open on Mondays and Fridays from 1-5pm for walk ins. If you have any questions please contact the manager, Martha Boland, by email: cvfarmersmarket@gmail.com or call 250 254-1594.

Thank you all and here’s to another great year!

There is a proposed clause in the draft Official Community Plan for RDCK Area B which would reduce the minimum lot sizes of agricultural land by 50%. Many local farmers and residents are concerned about the adverse affects this would have on agriculture and our community.

The new proposed lots of 4 hectares (10 acres) would be poorly suited to agriculture given Lister’s micro-climate and soil type which are better suited to more land intensive field crop and livestock operations. Smaller lots would undermine current area farmers who rely on the availability of large lots which they lease to raise their crops. It could also lead to more conflicts between agriculture and residential members of the community, as farms become surrounded by greater subdivision, pressuring farms out.

In the long term, smaller lot sizes would make farming in Lister untenable for future farmers, due to a lack of available farm land. This would be a loss for the whole community, harming its rural character, damaging the economy to which agriculture is a significant contributor, and undermining local food security and sovereignty of our food growing lands.

If you have questions or concerns about this proposed clause in the draft of the Area B OCP which “directs that subdivision of [Lister & Rykert] lands within the Agricultural Land Reserve are to be a minimum lot size of four hectares and lands outside the Agricultural Land Reserve a minimum lot size of one hectare” (Draft Bylaw No. 2316, Sec 15.15), please address in writing:

1) Attn: RDCK Chair & Board, Area B Director John Kettle, and RDCK Senior Planner Meeri Durand

The Regional District of Central Kootenay
Box 590, 202 Lakeside Drive,
Nelson, B.C. V1L 5R4

or by email: info@rdck.bc.ca, jrkettlejgalt@shaw.ca, mdurand@rdck.bc.ca

2) You may also copy/cc Agricultural Land Reserve Regional Planner
Roger Cheetham Roger.Cheetham@gov.bc.ca

There are also two petitions available for download, one for residents of RDCK Area B, and one for non-residents. If you would like to collect signatures, that would be much appreciated, and filled petitions may be scanned and sent to ListerFarmLand@gmail.com.

Please download and circulate the appropriate petition:

Ag Land Petition: Area B

Ag Land Petition: non-area B