Plant breeder's rights: private varieties explained

Andrew Creek and Dr Dave Monks

IP Australia is the Commonwealth agency managing patents, trademarks and designs for intellectual property in Australia. Plant breeder’s rights (PBR) are exclusive commercial rights for a registered plant variety and most new citrus varieties in Australia are subject to PBR. Variety owners usually have a variety manager to manage their IP. Variety Access, Australian Nurseryman’s Fruit Improvement Company (ANFIC), Nuleaf IP, Advanced Production Methods and Chislett Farms are examples of PBR citrus variety managers. Each manages a differing variety portfolio (Table 1).

It is a criminal offence to possess, propagate or grow a PBR protected variety without permission from the variety manager, on behalf of the owner. To grow a PBR protected variety, growers must sign a non-propagation agreement and agree to only farm the number of trees in their agreement. Variety agreements and tree royalty payment vary. The most exclusive varieties have fruit marketing arrangements to manage market supply with the aim being to return the most value to participating growers.

Some citrus growers may resist the change to private varieties, but with increasingly more genetic material being privately managed, there will be no avoiding it. The purpose of PBR is to protect the variety owner’s investment. The variety developer has a right to financial reward for their research or discovery.

Abusing the PBR scheme can lead to fines of $55,000 for individuals and up to $275,000 for companies. The variety owner also has the right to order the destruction of trees grown outside an agreement. Proving the difference between varieties is becoming easier with the advancement in DNA fingerprinting technology and digital information used throughout the supply chain.

Both public and private varieties use the Auscitrus scheme. Industry best practice is to use a reputable nursery that sources propagation material from the Auscitrus scheme. Only public varieties are listed on the Auscitrus order form. In the case of PBR varieties, the variety manager arranges supply of high health status propagation material to the approved nursery.

Table 1. Citrus variety manager contacts in Australia and some of their major managed varieties.

Citrus variety manager contactsTheir major managed varieties

Australian Nurseryman’s Fruit Improvement Company (ANFIC)

Dr Gavin Porter – Chief Executive Officer

Mobile: 0419 639 509

Email: info@anfic.com.au

Mandarin and mandarin hybrids: Nectar, Early Sicily (C1867)

Eureka SL lemon

A range of mandarins that have indicated HLB tolerance overseas and are currently under evaluation in Australia.

nu Leaf IP Pty Ltd

Matthew Cottrell – General Manager

Mobile: 0438 594 010

Email: matthew@nuleafip.com

Gold Nugget and Tangold mandarins. Kinnow LS and Daisy LS are currently under evaluation in Australia.

FAVCO and ‘Carter and Spencer’

(DAFF – Queensland bred low seeded Murcotts)

Favco – Deon Doss – Business Manager

Phone: 07 3717 1500

Email: info@favcoqld.com.au

IRM1 and IRM2 low seeded Murcotts.

Variety Access Pty Ltd

Wayne Parr – General Manager

Mobile: 0418 862 016

Email: ggrove@bigpond.com.au

Orri, 2PH seedless Murcott, Royal Honey Murcott (RHM), ARC SL Nadorcott, Goldup Imperial mandarin, Villa 11 navel, Kirkwood Red navel, FJ Navel, Dolci navel, Red Ned grapefruit, Midknight Valencia, Turkey Valencia, Ruby Valencia, DV Valencia, 2PH Seedless Eureka lemon.

Advanced Production Methods (APM)

Arthur Edwards – Independent Horticultural Consulting

Mobile: 0409 609 300

Email: arthur@apmaustralia.com

Summerina mandarin and Sunsmooth navel. A variegated Cara Cara navel mutation is currently under evaluation in Australia.

Chislett Farms

Jonathan Chislett – Business and Nursery Manager

Phone: 03 5038 8238

Email: jonathan@chislettfarms.com.au

M7 Navel, Chislett Summer Navel and Rohde Summer Navel.