Niels Louwaars

The improvement of plant varieties is a matter that concern­s consumers, the processing industry, farmers and the seed sector. There is a shared interest. Farmers have an interest in new resistances, processors and consum­ers in quality aspects, and breeders in good seed marketing.

The improvement of plant varieties is a matter that concern­s consumers, the processing industry, farmers and the seed sector. There is a shared interest. Farmers have an interest in new resistances, processors and consum­ers in quality aspects, and breeders in good seed marketing. The costs of breeding are borne by the entire chain by paying royalties on certified or reused seed to the holder of the breeders’ right. Since plant breeding always builds on the work of others, the rights of the breeder are limited and everyone can free­ly use any protected variety for further breeding and research. Patenting plant varieties is excluded from the (98/44/EC) European Biotechnology Directive.

The breeders’ right only protects the final product – the variety – and not the methods by which it is pro­duced. This has changed with the application of new technologies in plant breeding. Patents on such tech­niques could extend to the material and as the patent right does not provide exceptions for the use of fur­­ther breeding, the balance of rights among the players in the chain is disrupted – particularly because pat­­ents are also granted on characteristics of plants. Supported by Plantum, among others, the Dutch Potato Organisation (NAO) has adopted a clear posi­tion: biotechnology patents should be possible but, given the exclusion from patenting of plant varieties, the application of such a patent should not be able to block the practical breeding. State Secretary Bleker has endorsed this view and has promised to seek sup­port for such a law change in Brussels. The problem is also recognised in other countries. Our German and French colleagues at Plantum are looking for a solu­­tion – especially as regards limiting the patentability (no patents on natural characteristics); vegetable seed companies are currently discussing whether open, but paid access to stock can be arranged.

Possibly in response to the rights of biotechnologists, some breeders are trying to ensure via other ways that their competitors can or may no longer use their stock. Such restrictions of the breeders’ exemption are also undesirable – plant breeding thrives best in open competi­­tion based on the quality of the varieties and a subsequent maximum­ access to genetic material.

Niels Louwaars
Director Plantum