Plant Breeder's Rights and Contract Growing in the Pasture Seeds Industry

Reynolds, R

Plant Breeder's Rights and Contract Growing in the Pasture Seeds Industry

Reynolds, R

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Publisher:: Rural Industries Research and Development Council
Publication Type:: Report
Citation:: 2007, pp. 1 - 63
Issue Date:: 2007-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Reynolds, R	en_US
dc.date.issued	2007-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	2007, pp. 1 - 63	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	1 74151 555 6	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/12398
dc.description.abstract	Research background This research marks a breakthrough in legal research into plant breeder's rights (PBR). Previous legal research focused on the policy issue of whether life should be commodified and whether the introduction of PBR led to the privatisation of plant breeding. The current research shifted the focus from plants to markets, from breeders to growers. Research contribution The research demonstrated that there has been no increase in private breeding in the pasture seeds industry as a result of PBR. A survey of pasture seed growers established that the biggest impact of introducing PBR in the pastures seeds industry was the development of vertical contact growing and the separation of marketing and growing within the industry. This was significantly different to the US experience where the separation of breeding, growing and marketing had occurred earlier and simultaneously. A legal analysis of growing contracts demonstrated that many contracts were unfairly biased in favour of seed companies, were poorly drafted and often legally ineffective. Research significance The research demonstrates that many policy assumptions regarding the impact of PBR are incorrect; that the US experience of PBR is not always relevant in Australia; that there is a need to continue to fund Australian public breeding programs; and that there are significant problems with vertical contract growing. The importance of the research is attested to by the fact that the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation has subsequently funded further research to develop a standard contract for the pasture seeds industry.	en_US
dc.publisher	Rural Industries Research and Development Council	en_US
dc.title	Plant Breeder's Rights and Contract Growing in the Pasture Seeds Industry	en_US
dc.type	Report
utslib.location	Kingston, Australia	en_US
utslib.for	1801 Law	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.confidential	false	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	Kingston, Australia	en_US

Abstract:

Research background This research marks a breakthrough in legal research into plant breeder's rights (PBR). Previous legal research focused on the policy issue of whether life should be commodified and whether the introduction of PBR led to the privatisation of plant breeding. The current research shifted the focus from plants to markets, from breeders to growers. Research contribution The research demonstrated that there has been no increase in private breeding in the pasture seeds industry as a result of PBR. A survey of pasture seed growers established that the biggest impact of introducing PBR in the pastures seeds industry was the development of vertical contact growing and the separation of marketing and growing within the industry. This was significantly different to the US experience where the separation of breeding, growing and marketing had occurred earlier and simultaneously. A legal analysis of growing contracts demonstrated that many contracts were unfairly biased in favour of seed companies, were poorly drafted and often legally ineffective. Research significance The research demonstrates that many policy assumptions regarding the impact of PBR are incorrect; that the US experience of PBR is not always relevant in Australia; that there is a need to continue to fund Australian public breeding programs; and that there are significant problems with vertical contract growing. The importance of the research is attested to by the fact that the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation has subsequently funded further research to develop a standard contract for the pasture seeds industry.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/12398