CSGA Variety Recognition for Seed Crop Certification

Variety registration by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) establishes the eligibility for certification for varieties of most agricultural crop kinds produced in Canada. For a list of crop kinds subject to variety registration, please refer to Schedule III of the Seeds Regulations.

For varieties of crop kinds that are not subject to variety registration, CSGA has established a Variety Certification Eligibility process (Form 300).

The CFIA’s Variety Registration Process

Variety registration officially verifies that a seed variety is new, distinguishable from other varieties, relatively uniform in its essential characteristics, and stable.

The identity of a variety is determined by its breeding history and is defined by the description of variety (DOV). A legal reference sample of seed of the variety is submitted to the CFIA, and the CFIA will plant a sub-sample to validate the description of variety submitted by the plant breeder.

Please click here to learn more about the CFIA’s Variety Registration Office (VRO). Please consult the CFIA’s database for a list of registered varieties in Canada. For all other questions on Canada’s VRO, please contact the CFIA.

CSGA’s Variety Recognition Process

Variety recognition by CSGA is only required for seed crop certification where the variety is not of a crop kind included in Schedule III of the Seeds Regulations and where the variety has not previously been accepted for certification by an official seed certifying agency in another country.

To complete the CSGA variety recognition process, applicants must submit an Application for Variety Certification Eligibility (Form 300) in SeedCert, provide a description of the variety to the CSGA, and send a representative seed sample to the CFIA.

Note that the Form 300 Application is not required for experimental strains or breeder lines that will not be issued Foundation, Registered or Certified crop certificates.

The Form 300 application should be submitted before the first Application for CSGA Seed Crop Certification is submitted to CSGA for that variety.

A fee of $600.00 per Variety Certification Eligibility Application (Form 300) is applicable.

CSGA-Recognized Varieties for Seed Crop Certification

While the CFIA offers a publicly accessible database of registered varieties, CSGA’s Form 300-approved varieties have previously not been readily accessible.

CSGA is committed to transparency of its processes and responsiveness to stakeholders. As a result of requests from soybean stakeholders, the Association is making public the list of CSGA-Recognized soybean varieties for seed crop certification. Other CSGA-Recognized varieties of other crop kinds will be added in the near future.