Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116Photo courtesy SeCan 26 www.seed.ab.ca | Advancing Seed in Alberta Hadley states more will be done to educate the industry that protecting plant breeders’ rights is about driving innovation in the seed industry. “We did an estimate in the middle of the last decade in both private and public institutions that a brand new variety has a million dollars worth of development costs before the first seed is sold,” he says. “Plant breeding is a high-tech, high intensity system. Good plant breeding has both art and science involved. It’s a very complex business and the best breeders are teams of people. There is someone who knows the genetics of a crop, there’re people who know the crop and are able to test it. It’s not a simple process.” Hadley points to the canola industry as an example of what a successful plant breeding program can mean. He says many of the canola varieties that are available today were the result of compa- nies investing in research to compete for the seed purchasing dollar. Protection for Seed Growers, Farmers Kelly Barany, co-owner of Chin Ridge Seeds in Taber, Alta., says plant breeders’ rights are essential for the survival of companies like her family-owned operation. She says PBR protects her com- pany’s ability to sell products at a price that covers the time and costs related to producing certified seed. “It takes four years for us to produce certified seed from breeder seed and our extra costs include labour and machine time to plant small plots and rogue the plots and clean the seed. We [also] have crop inspection costs, lab test costs and a lot of paperwork that is required to meet seed requirements,” she says. Barany adds failure to protect the rights of plant breeders harms not only them but also farmers. “Less royalties mean breeders have reduced capabilities to breed seed. Ultimately, it means that farmers will lose out on the variety advances that these breeders would have developed with the right financial support,” she says. Barany agrees more needs to be done to educate both grow- ers and the general public about why protecting breeding rights is important. “I think we need to promote the successes that Canadian breeders have had and how that has ultimately helped Canadian farmers through increased yields and better quality [products]. In addition, we need to continue to educate farmers on what the blue certified seed tag stands for, including the qual- ity standards that are behind [that] seed,” she says. “I think the more that people appreciate the value of certified seed, the more support there will be of the system that makes it viable.” Jim Timlick A recent PBR court case has helped educate people about the importance of plant breeders’ rights to the seed industry and what the consequences can be when growers don’t follow the rules. TUAsvs.Royalties Technicaluseagreements(TUA)androyaltiesareterms oftenusedinassociationwithplantbreeders’rights.Both playavitalroleintheworkofbreedersandresearchersto developnewandimprovedvarietiesofseed. ATUAisessentiallyacontractbetweenaproduceranda technologysupplier(i.e.aseedbuyerandaseedsupplier). Itsetsoutspecifictermsofuseforaparticularproduct. Royalties,ontheotherhand,areapaymentmadeaspart ofthesaleofavariety.Inmostcases,aportionofthat saleflowsdirectlybacktothebreeder.It’ssimilartothe saleofamusicCDwithaportionofthesalegoingbackto theartistwhoproducedthework.Royaltiescanbepaid onbothprotectedandnon-protectedvarieties. “Good plant breeding has both art and science involved.” —Lorne Hadley