Seeds Canada Follows Up On Numerous PBR Cases

Last week, a large farming operation in Southern Alberta reached the largest cash settlement in a Plant Breeders' Rights case in Canadian history agreeing to pay over $737 thousand dollars.

 

The Director of Intellectual Property Protection for Seeds Canada, Lorne Hadley says they investigate a number of cases each year of people infringing on the rules under Plant Breeders Rights.

 

"Ninety per cent of it is myself or others from Seeds Canada having a conversation What are you selling? Do you know you shouldn't? If it's a variety that shouldn't be sold without the permission of the varieter. Then there's a group that think, well, you know, I think this variety is in short supply, so I should be selling it. And we use that system to determine what we do in terms of negotiating with infringers."

 

Hadley says they deal with one to four hundred cases each year noting that each case is handled and investigated separately.

 

"Is it a small farmer who just needs to know more? Is it somebody who set out to actually take the variety without paying a royalty? Or is it somebody that's in the business of, you know, essentially brown bagging seed. Keep in mind every time seed is brown bagged, there is no royalty going back to the breeder."

 

He notes anyone who uses a PBR-91 protected seed purchases it, processes it or sells PBR protected varieties inappropriately is liable.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.