b'Turning Back The ClockA Look Back 25 Years Ago at Excerpts fromThe May 1995 Issue ofThe ValleyPotato Grower MagazineViews On Plant Variety duction of Plant Variety Protection, it is exclusivityandmayexpressthisinaProtection easytounderstandthereluctanceto morestable price. Advantages includeembrace it. Where there is no seed law, better estimation of demand, and sup-Plant variety protection is literally the growers ant be forced to buy certified ply regulation so that gross oversupplyprotection of the intellectual property seed to plant their crop.can be avoided.of a breeder. It is viable in many areas oftheworld,andcouldbesuccessfully MonoplyVarieties-Inthissystem,a Marketingisnotonlybasedontheadaptedbypotatobreedershere.By breeder(university,privateinstitution commodity price, but on the varietiesallowing control of the production and or person)maylookforhelpinthe characteristics.Inseed,itiscertainmarketingofpropogatingmaterial,it resistancesandmarketableyield.Ingrantsthebreedertheopportunityto table,itisshape,color,andtaste.Inrecuperate his investment of $1 to $2 processing,sizeandtastearekey.million. Following is an examination of Breeders,especiallyuniversities,mayhow it could work in the United States. need to establish a list of interested par-There are two main methods of protec- tiestobidonmarketingaprotectedtion:freedistribution,whichshould variety when it becomes available. Themean automatic licensing, and a system marketing approach should be outlinedof monopoly varieties. in a proposal that includes evaluation,production,promotion,andcommer-Automaticlicensing-Weareaccus- cialization.Thewaythebreedercantomed to free varieties, bred by public chooseaproposalthatindicatesthefundsthatarereleasedafterinforma- greatest market potential.tionalpublicationsaredisseminatedand a series of variety trials are complet- The agent can makegrowing a particu-ed. Now, the same system can be used lar variety more acceptable to growersfor protected varieties. The results of the marketplace by appointing a marketer byestablishingacontract.Dependingtrials are published to create interest in tointroducehisvariety,asmany on the transparency of themarket andgrowing a seed potato variety. The seed Europeanbreedersdo.Themarketer marketing,trustcanbebuiltbetweenofferisbasedonavailabilityand becomesthebreedersagent,and the producer and the marketer. In thisdemand and receives a premium as long receivesamonopolypositioninthe context other types of contracts can beasthesupplyisshort.Thebreeder marketplaceundertheconditionthat establishedforexamplesuchastheattempts to recuperate his expenditure the breeder receives part or all of the ones used in other parts of the world.by charging royalties over seed grown royalties. The agent introduces varietiesor sold. Certification agencies or grower throughindustrytrialsandevaluates Clearly, the advantage of the monopolyassociations may be asked to assist in themarketpotential.Forprocessing system is that the introduction of a newthis effort. Some growers have indicated varieties, agreements can be made with variety is accompanied by a marketingthat the resulting royalties on the seed the customers; with fresh, varieties can effort, allowing for some kind of supplymake a variety less attractive. If this per- be sold on an exclusive basis for a limit- management and overall, a more stableception is the only result of the intro- ed time period. Buyers are interested in price level.22 POTATO GROWER MAY/JUNE 2020'