I have already stated that UPOV 91 does not threaten a farmer's ability to save his own seed. It doesn't. That's in the protocol.
Where it does stop a farmer, and quite frankly, I support that you can't take that seed.... You're going to pay a royalty on it when you get it. I always do. I buy new seed every year, and when I pay for that seed, part of the cost of that seed is a royalty that goes back to the breeder who developed that variety. Where I have a problem is if a farmer, such as myself, were to buy that seed, pay the royalty on it, and then a neighbour comes the next year and says he'd like some of that seed and I sell it to him for whatever, and no royalty goes back to the breeder. How do we maintain breeding programs in Canada if we don't make sure we have funds in place to reward that person who developed the seed so he can carry on with varietal development? That's where I have a problem.
If farmers want to save it for themselves, I don't have a problem with that. I think that's right. But what they are doing effectively, by selling that seed to another farmer, is providing that seed with no royalty. That other farmer hasn't had to pay the same cost as you. Quite frankly, as a farmer, if I take my pocketbook out and pay for the variety, so should the farmer who wants that seed.