I was contacted by some researchers from Saskatoon who were in the process of trying to register a new variety of barley that's low in phytate, and they've run into a roadblock with CFIA on the issue of novel characteristics. Apparently, because of the phytate-low characteristic, they're saying this is a novel thing, and therefore a further study needs to be done.
The phytate issue's been around for 15 years. American corn producers brought out low-phytate corn 10 years ago. Various companies have brought out various varieties of this thing. We were hoping we could get this barley thing resolved fairly quickly. We consume a lot of barley in the hog industry, and it's one tool that would help us, because if you have low phytate, you don't have to use the enzyme phytate, which is a cost in the feed itself. So anything we can use to reduce costs on the primary ingredient is a key item for us.