MCA engages in Grain Act review

Feb 02, 2021

The Canada Grain Act hasn’t had a comprehensive amendment since 1971

Staff Writer

Farms.com

The Canada Grain Act is currently under consultation and representatives from the Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) are encouraging producers to get involved.

“We are always looking for engagement and direction from our farmers,” said Fred Greig, chair of MCA. “We are hoping to make a little extra effort to make our producers aware (the consultation) is finally happening and (we want to) hear their voice.”

The act provides framework for Canada’s grain quality assurance system and gives farmers certain protections. It also sets out the functions of the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC).

The act hasn’t had a comprehensive amendment since 1971 and since that time, the Canadian grain sector has gone through many changes and it was time for an update, said a recent Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) release.

MCA staff want producers to get involved in the consultation and plan to provide feedback to AAFC on discussions that previously took place around the act that didn’t result in changes.

MCA staff plan to bring up points such as how varieties get registered and improved efficiencies that could be made with the CGC, said Greig.

“There's lots to be concerned about. (MCA is) encouraged that we can maybe positively change some of these things moving forward,” he told Farms.com.

Producers can review the discussion document online and submit feedback until April 30, 2021 by emailing aafc.cgareview.aac@canada.ca or by mailing Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1341 Baseline Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C5.

Viorika E+ photo

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”