The National Farmers Union is raising the alarm about proposed changes to Canada's plant breeders rights.

NFU president Stewart Wells told farmers in Weyburn Saturday night that if the Martin government follows through on recommended changes to Canada's existing seed laws, farmers could lose the age-old right to save their own seed each year, or sell it to their neighbours.

Some of the changes could be made as early as this year if an amended Plant Breeders Rights Act is passed, he said. The final date for public consultation on that act is Tuesday, March 8.

Local seed cleaner John Shelly said he is very concerned about the proposals.

"Farmers can't afford to pay royalties on the seed they've saved. It's another expense. Besides, we've always been able to save our own seed."

Shelly said he travels a long way in the south with his mobile operation and believes very few farmers understand these proposals.

"I think 99 per cent of my customers have not heard about this. If they read the literature from the NFU, they are astounded," he said.

Wells points to the proposed changes to the act and to a 2004 Seed Sector Review as the reason for NFU's urgency.

The Seed Sector Review discusses methods of collecting royalties from farmers through elevators or seed processors, or the Canadian Wheat Board, from farmers who save and reuse their seed, he said.

Royalties would go to seed companies, not to farmer seed growers, notes Wells.

The Seed Sector Review also lists ways to "encourage" farmers to buy more certified seed, he said. These include a suggestion to link crop insurance premiums with the use of certified seed, requiring higher premiums from farmers who re-use their seed.

"Review participants repeatedly returned to the idea of requiring the use of variety names on all seed sales," says Wells. "Such a move would effectively outlaw the sale of 'common' seed and end farmers' ability to sell seed to neighbours or to family."

Changes to the Plant Breeders Rights Act would make it a "privilege" for farmers to save their own seed, said Wells.

He points to comments from Canadian Seed Trade Association executives who say farmers have no legal right to save their own seeds from year to year.

Wells said the NFU also has information which strongly suggests the federal government will close the Swift Current research station where a lot of publicly-funded seed research is conducted.

NFU executive secretary Terry Pugh said a petition is being circulated to ask Parliament not to change the Seeds Act or the Plant Breeders Rights Act to restrict farmers rights or add to their costs. "The cost to farmers of these proposals would be massive," said Pugh.

This is not the first time proposals like these have been made in Canada but the last time, in 1999, it died on the order paper, he said. "Nobody would know about the proposals this time, either, if the NFU hadn't flagged them," he said.