Voting for Registration of New Varieties of Grains in Western Canada: A Collegial Process in a Competitive Time K. K. Klein and A. M. Walburger Department of Economics, The University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB. Received July 2000, accepted March 2001 The key decision-making body for licensing new varieties of grains in western Canada is the Prairie Registration and Recommending Committee for Grains (PRRCG). The current committee structure, set up to operate on principles of collegiality, has been instrumental in maintaining the internationally rec- ognized high-quality of Canadian wheat. But the system may be out of step with the new reality of incen- tives as a result of Plant Breeders’ Rights legislation passed by the Canadian Parliament in 1990. An econometric analysis was conducted on 19 years of data collected on the various characteris- tics of candidate cultivars and subsequent votes by members of the PRRCG. The analyses showed that in spite of the immense measures taken to assure objectivity in decisions to recommend for licensing, other influences have a greater impact on the eventual decisions than do the characteristics of the test wheat cultivars. This raises serious questions about the procedures for recommending acceptance of new varieties. Le principal organe responsable de l’homologation des nouvelles variétés de céréales dans l’Ouest canadien est le Comité de recommandation des inscriptions au catalogue du grain des Prairies (CRICGP). Le Comité fonctionne selon les principes de la collégialité et cette structure a concouru à la production d’un blé mondialement reconnu pour sa grande qualité. Pareil système pourrait cependant s’avérer désuet face à la réalité actuelle, née de l’adoption de la Loi sur la protection des obtentions végétales par le gouvernement canadien, en 1991. Les auteurs ont effectué une analyse économétrique de 19 ans de données sur les caractéristiques des cultivars candidats à l’homologation et sur le résultat du scrutin des membres du CRICPG. Cette analyse révèle qu’en dépit des dispositions considérables visant à garantir l’objectivité des décisions, d’autres facteurs que les propriétés des cultivars interviennent davantage dans le jugement des membres du Comité. Ces résultats laissent planer un sérieux doute sur la validité des méthodes conduisant à la recommandation des nouvelles variétés. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 49 (2001) 233–246 233 INTRODUCTION The system of licensing new varieties of wheat in Canada has created a lot of controversy. Unlike the United States where the release of new varieties is informal and largely unregu- lated (Wilson 1989; Dahl et al 1999), the process for licensing and releasing new varieties of wheat in Canada is highly regulated under terms of federal government legislation. The process has been costly as well as slow: of 151 candidate cultivars tested between 1973 and 1982, only seven (5%) were licensed (Hughes 1986). It can take ten years or more to select, test and register a new cultivar for use by grain producers (Fowler 1986; Zentner and Peterson 1984). Most economists have been critical of the elaborate process involved in licensing new wheat varieties because it may have hampered western Canadian wheat producers in main- taining their competitiveness relative to wheat producers in other countries. Carter et al (1986, 376) suggested that the method of varietal licensing was “restraining wheat production on the prairies and restricting some farmers’ incomes.” Klein et al. (1996) noted that wheat yields in