JULY 2012
CELEBRATING 132 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION
VOLUME 62 NUMBER 07
Asparagus seedco stands for a new business model Fox Seeds is in the hunt for $10 million in sales KAREN DAVIDSON DELHI, ON -- How long does it take to measure longevity? In the case of asparagus, a career lifetime. Just ask Dave Wolyn, a University of Guelph breeder, who along with technician Paul Banks, have spent 23 years bringing the aptly named Millennium asparagus cultivar to its current apex. “We still don’t know the actual peak of Millennium after 13 years in commercial production,” says Wolyn. Where other cultivars have tailed off at seven or eight years, Millennium is still producing, tripling yields of the old open-pollinated varieties to 6,000 pounds per acre. Historically, asparagus stands are expected to have a lifetime span of 15 to 20 years. “Longevity – you can’t short circuit that trait in asparagus,” says Wolyn. “How to find good parents, good crosses and good seed production, true to variety, is difficult.” Millennium’s main selling points are longevity, but also yield and tolerance to replant which translates into tolerance to root diseases. The breeding team is looking to improve foliar disease resistance and spear quality when temperatures get above 30o Celsius. “That’s what the new cultivars need to have,” says Wolyn.
INSIDE Quebec lettuce competes in U.S.
Page 4
Alberta opens new research greenhouse Page 6 Speakers’ corner at Tech X-Change hort show Page 16
www.thegrower.org P.M. 40012319
The ultimate worker, the honeybee is an essential service that never goes on strike. In this case, honeybees are critical to asparagus pollination, carrying pollen from male to receptive female plants. It’s just one step of the laborious breeding process directed by University of Guelph’s Dave Wolyn and technician Paul Banks. Together, their years of work have resulted in germplasm that’s worth a bundle to the Ontario Asparagus Growers’ Marketing Board. Photos by Denis Cahill.
This genetic package has impressed not only Ontario growers but those in Michigan and other cool climate zones around the world. And so, the sales of seed have grown exponentially to $1.6 million in 2011. That seed scoreboard has presented a dilemma for the Ontario Asparagus Growers’ Marketing Board, a non-profit organization. The Ontario Farm Product Marketing Commission has warned the non-profit status could be jeopardized with such a lucrative income and recommended an arms-length business arrangement. It’s taken months of meetings to structure for the long-term, but the asparagus growers have just announced a new legal entity, Fox Seeds. Named after the welldrained soils of the Norfolk sand plains, this new company has its own board of directors. Jeff Wilson is chair and Jason Ryder is vice-chair. Just as importantly,
Fox Seeds has a separate bank account from the association. Here’s how it works. The University of Guelph owns the intellectual property for Millennium and subsequent breeding work for what could be called Millennium 2. The asparagus marketing board has access to Millennium seed as a licensee of the University of Guelph. Fox Seeds is the sub-licensee. This arrangement segregates seed sale revenues which can then cover costs such as royalties to the university, technician time, and equipment and land leases. It also allows a generous portion of funds to be plowed back into research to benefit the Ontario asparagus industry. As Jason Ryder, vice-chair explains, “What this means is not necessarily more acres of asparagus, but more yield and saleable product per acre. It also means that our growers have access to local seed.” “This is not a golden goose,”
“
Longevity – you can’t short circuit that trait in asparagus. How to find good parents, good crosses and good seed production, true to variety, is difficult.” ~ Dr. Dave Wolyn, University of Guelph
warns Ed DeHooghe, Delhi, Ontario asparagus grower. “There’s a lot of risk.” What DeHooghe outlines is a disturbing pattern of closures. Memories are still sharp about the provincial government’s abandonment of a breeding site at Cambridge, Ontario 10 years ago which set back the breeding program by years. Asparagus crowns can’t be transplanted to a different site without compromising the scientific data, including the elusive trait of longevity. This year’s federal closure of the Delhi Research Station has renewed fears of similar pullbacks and what consequences might be in store if anything were to happen to the provincial Simcoe Research Station or its staff. These negative experiences have informed a more commercial approach for Fox Seeds. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3