That is a great question.  In order for a variety to be included in the Regional Variety testing program it needs to be a registered variety in Canada.  To become registered in Canada, US and European genetics are able to enter into the co-op trials via sponsorship from a seed company.  The foreign varieties are testing against the current check varieties which builds a data set that the recommending committee can evaluate for several merit requirements.  This ensures a consistent quality of all genetics (Canadian and other).  Several of the pea and faba bean lines that are currently registered in Canada are genetics that originated outside Canada and went through our registration process.  Additionally, Canadian breeders have the opportunity to "share" germplasm/traits from breeding programs all over the world in order to provide the maximum value to Canadian farmers.  This happens much earlier in the variety development process and the finished variety would acknowledge the germplasm in its parentage. 

The target plant population for all faba beans is 4-5 plants/sq. ft.