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ARCHIVE: Farming: Plant varieties and seeds

Plant varieties are developed by plant breeding companies who have the legal right to recoup a return on their investment through royalties from growers’ use of:

  • certified seed;
  • farm-saved seed

The plant breeder will need to apply to the Plant Varieties and Seeds section of The Food and Environmental Research Agency (Fera) to register a new variety, and the variety will need to be accepted as distinct, uniform and stable (DUS) before the plant breeder is entitled to Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR).

Plant Breeders’ Rights

Plant Breeders' Rights (Link to Fera) cover any species of plant - agricultural, horticultural and ornamental - and provide the plant breeder a licence to prevent anyone using the variety in the following ways without their authority:

  • production or reproduction (multiplication)
  • conditioning for the purpose of propagation
  • offering for sale
  • selling or other marketing
  • exporting
  • importing
  • stocking for any of the purposes mentioned above

If you hold the variety rights, you can subcontract others to carry out the services listed above on whatever terms and conditions you wish to impose.

As a holder of PBR you also have the above rights for any variety which is dependent on the protected variety e.g. a hybrid variety.

If you wish to carry out any of the services listed and consider the terms imposed by the holder of the plant breeders’ rights as unreasonable, or are not granted, then you may apply for a compulsory licence.

National Listing

For a variety of the main agricultural crops to be marketed in this country it must be included in a National List.

Plant breeders can apply for new varieties to be added to this list, and will need to demonstrate the variety is distinct, sufficiently uniform and stable (DUS) and, for agricultural crops, have satisfactory value for cultivation and use (VCU).

The National Listing (Link to Fera) is managed by the Plant Variety and Seeds section of Fera. Official trials are conducted, in most cases for a minimum of two years, to test each new variety for a range of characteristics. The testing will determine the varieties uniqueness, its genetic uniformity, and its value to growers and the rest of the food chain.

Varieties in the National Listings are then tested for their commercial value by the UK Levy bodies to produce the Recommended Lists by crop. The levy bodies include:

Certified Seed

Seed of an approved variety can only be marketed if it is certified as meeting strict quality criteria. These quality standards are laid down in UK and EU law and policed by agencies appointed by Government. Certified seed (Link to Fera) offers the grower an independent assurance of quality and cover:

  • varietal identity
  • purity
  • germination capacity

Strict limits also apply to seed borne disease, and the presence of physical impurities such as weed seeds.

The breeder bulks up supplies of the purified lines of breeder’s seed into pre-basic and basic seed. Each year specialist seed growers are used to grow basic seed for the first generation of certified seed, C1 seed. After one more year this becomes C2 seed, the main source of certified seed used by farmers.

Breeders continually maintain breeder’s seed for the process of multiplication to ensure the variety’s performance and quality year after year. Preserving the identity of individual varieties has become more important; both to conserve quality characteristics and to meet consumer demands for assurances about the integrity and traceability of their food.

Royalties paid on certified seed remain the plant breeder's main source of investment income.

Farm Saved Seed

Farm Saved Seed (FSS) is defined as seed planted on a farmer's own holding using material harvested on his own holding. Payments on farm saved seed make up an increasingly significant proportion of breeder’s income and are vital for the continued development of new varieties.

The Plant Varieties Act 1997 provides for holders of rights to claim remuneration from farmers for the use of farm saved seed of varieties of the following species:

  • beet
  • cereals
  • fodder Plants
  • oil and Fibre plants
  • potatoes
  • vegetables

The British Society of Plant Breeders is responsible for collecting the royalties on Farm Saved Seed from growers for: wheat, barley, oilseed rape, field peas and beans, oats, linseed, triticale, yellow lupins and potatoes.

Useful links

Further information

Plant Variety and Seeds Section of Fera: 01223 342379

Page last modified: 19 March 2010
Page published: 1 July 2006