HOW TO PURCHASE ND FOUNDATION SEED

Foundation seed orders may be placed at any time. Orders can be telephoned, mailed or faxed to any Foundation seed production location or to NDSU Foundation Seedstocks (FSS). See Foundation Seed Production Locations for addresses, phone numbers and Web links. See Foundation Seed Inventory for seed availability.  FSS may limit purchases of specific varieties with strong demand or may allocate any varieties for which there is a limited supply. Initial seed increases of newly released ND varieties are handled under Increase Agreements through the ND Seed Increase Program.  Following the first year of seed increase of new varieties through this program, Foundation seed is made available to the general public.

Orders accompanied by a 25% deposit from established Certified growers, placed by February 28 of the current year for delivery during the following year, will receive first priority for any available seed. Second priority will be for orders from Certified growers placed by December 1. Individual orders may not exceed 10% of the total available supply of a variety. Orders placed after December 1 will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. All Foundation seed purchases require a signed affidavit that the seed will be grown and field inspected for the purpose of seed production to be sold as Registered or Certified seed. Growers will be notified when their confirmed orders are available for pick-up at the production location. Orders must be prepaid or paid-in-full at time of pick-up. All seed is FOB at the production location.

For public varieties that are not available in North Dakota, contact FSS in Fargo at 701-231-8140. Foundation seed of public varieties from other states or countries may be available to North Dakota growers but must be requested through FSS for purchase, payment and delivery. Approval for any purchases of Foundation or Registered seed of Canadian varieties must be requested through FSS.

Orders for Foundation Grass Seed should be placed directly with the USDA Plant Materials Center in Bismarck or FSS in Fargo. The Research Centers do not handle Foundation grass seed orders.

FOUNDATION SEED PRODUCTION LOCATIONS

HOW TO PURCHASE FOUNDATION SEED FROM OTHER STATES

Foundation seed of public varieties from any other state is available to North Dakota growers. Orders for Foundation seed of these varieties must be placed with Foundation Seedstocks (FSS) in Fargo.   FSS locates a source for the seed, purchases the seed from the appropriate foundation seed program and arranges for transportation to North Dakota.  The North Dakota grower purchases the seed from FSS.  The grower will be required to pay for the seed in advance of its shipment to North Dakota and will be responsible to take delivery of the seed from a location designated by FSS.  Any additional shipping or handling charges for transportation will be added to the cost of the seed.  Once any special orders for seed from another state are in transit to North Dakota, the order cannot be cancelled and payment for the seed will not be refunded.  

Registered or Certified seed of public varieties from other states can be purchased directly by a North Dakota grower.  Such purchases do not require any action from the FSS.  FSS can assist grower in locating a source of seed of the desired variety if requested.  Grower is responsible for all of his own arrangements for purchase, payment and transportation of the seed with the seed supplier.

HOW DO NON-ND GROWERS PURCHASE FOUNDATION SEED OF ND VARIETIES

Growers from States other than North Dakota who want to purchase Foundation seed of ND varieties must contact and purchase the seed through the Foundation Seed organization in their own state.

Registered or Certified seed of ND public varieties can be purchased by a non-North Dakota grower from a ND seedsman. Such purchases do not require any action from a Foundation Seed organization.  FSS can assist the non-ND grower in locating a source of seed of the desired variety if requested.  Grower is responsible for all of his own arrangements for purchase, payment and transportation of the seed with the seed supplier.

HOW TO PURCHASE SEED FROM CANADA

In the past, many of the public varieties developed by Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Crop Development Centers (CDC) in Canada were licensed to the SeCan Association (SeCan) and association members produced all classes of certified seed of those licensed varieties. Under a 1986 agreement between SeCan, the ND Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES) and the ND Crop Improvement Association (NDCIA), any sales or movement of Foundation or Registered classes of seed of SeCan varieties from Canada to a ND grower had to be approved by Foundation Seedstocks (FSS) and SeCan. Sales of the Certified class of seed were not covered by this agreement.

In 1997, the agreement between SeCan, NDAES and NDCIA was cancelled. As of January 1, 1999, SeCan began accepting membership applications from North Dakota seedsmen in order to provide a source for SeCan varieties in North Dakota. If you would like more information about SeCan or a Membership Application, contact SeCan by telephone at 1-800-764-5487; by email at seed@secan.com; or by writing to SeCan Association, 400-300 Terry Fox Drive Auriga Drive, Kanata, Ontario, K2K 0E3 Canada,

SeCan's primary purpose is to obtain new varieties that can be grown and marketed by members. Many of their varieties are still obtained from Canadian public breeders, but varieties are also obtained from private Canadian and foreign breeders as well as from public breeders in other countries including the USA. SeCan is no longer the exclusive licensee for all new AAFC and CDC variety releases. Through a competitive bid process, SeCan or a private Canadian seed company may become the licensee. The marketing rights will vary from variety to variety. If a private seed company secures rights to the variety, they will probably have or develop some commercial marketing channels for seed in North Dakota. If SeCan obtains rights to the variety, seed will be available through SeCan members in North Dakota. Purchases of the Certified class of seed of SeCan varieties from Canadian seedsmen by North Dakota growers are not affected.

SeCan has 1,700 members across Canada. The head office is in Nepean, a suburb of Ottawa, in Ontario. There is also a branch office in Winnipeg, Manitoba and marketing representatives in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. SeCan handles 350 varieties of barley, canola, durum wheat, flax, oat, field pea, rye, soybean, spring wheat, winter wheat and forages. A few of the varieties that are most likely to be of interest are listed below. In 1998, SeCan varieties were planted on 49% of the acres inspected for certification in Canada and members' sales of seed of these varieties were valued at $100 million Canadian.

Members in the USA have most of the same rights and privileges as members in Canada. The main differences are a result of differences in seed regulations in the two countries. US members will be able to order Foundation seed of new varieties directly from SeCan at the same time as Canadian members. They will be able to buy Foundation and Registered seed of most varieties from other US and Canadian members and they will also be able to sell these classes of seed to other members.

More widely adapted SeCan varieties are being protected under the Plant Breeders' Rights Act in Canada, and there is an aggressive program for protecting PBR rights. Varieties that appear likely to be widely adapted in the US will also be protected under the PVP Act and those rights will be enforced.

SeCan members receive four issues of the newsletter, SeCan News, each year. The newsletter contains information on new varieties, marketing programs, the seed industry and other topics of special interest to SeCan members.

SELLING SEED OF ND VARIETIES LICENSED IN CANADA

An increasing number of questions have been raised by both ND growers and the NDAES Research Centers regarding seed sales to Canada. It is the intent of the NDSU Research Foundation (NDSU/RF) to offer any new NDSU varieties for exclusive licensing in Canada in order to protect the NDSU/RF ownership rights to the variety and to generate royalties to support continued plant breeding efforts. This page is to advise you of the current NDSU/RF licensing agreements in place for NDSU developed varieties in Canada as of November 2003..

It is NDSU/RF and NDAES policy that sales of Foundation class seed of any varieties, including licensed varieties will not be allowed to Canada. Seed sales will be limited to the Registered and Certified classes of seed.  Also, the licensing agreements currently in place specify that any seed of the licensed NDSU/RF varieties produced in Canada (of any class - certified or otherwise) is NOT allowed to re-enter and be sold  as seed in the United States.  As the owner of NDSU developed varieties, NDSU/RF will not allow seed of PVP protected varieties to be sold into Canada unless it is to an NDSU/RF licensee in Canada.  These requirements will be enforced in order to protect the ND seed industry.  Any known violations of these requirements may be reported (anonymously, if preferred) to the NDSU/RF or the exclusive licensee.

The following varieties are currently licensed in Canada. The exclusive licensee has applied for Plant Breeder's Rights on behalf of NDSU/RF in order to register and protect the variety in Canada. The registration process may take 1 to 3 years before the variety is commercially available in Canada as certified seed. Any sales of Registered or Certified seed of these varieties by ND growers into Canada may ONLY be made to the exclusive licensee. It is the responsibility of the ND seedsman who desires to sell licensed varieties into Canada to establish a marketing relationship with the exclusive licensee regarding their anticipated seed needs.

 The following varieties have been or will be offered for license in Canada. Therefore, no seed sales of these varieties to Canada are allowed until a licensing agreement is in place and an exclusive licensee is identified. At that point, with the permission of the NDSU/RF, seed sales may be made only to the exclusive licensee.

Any further questions regarding these crop cultivars or any other NDSU intellectual properties or technologies available for licensing, please contact Dale Zetocha (701-231-8931) at the NDSU Research Foundation.