Genes and Biodiversity

I received a query about Edible Blue Honeysuckle several days ago and in the conversation that ensued was asked my thoughts on the issue of paying royalties to breeders and plant protection issues.
My response with a little editing follows!

"I have struggled with that whole issue myself. But here I am, trying to do a little plant breeding, and I do not see myself as the end seller so where do I get something for my work!

Very few of us are really interested in going into the wild to select plants and then propagate them to sell. And the chances of finding good material in the wild is extremely rare.

So take the institute in this conversation(University of Saskatchewan). I know these folks personally and have had many conversations with Dr. Bob Bors. They have developed the first round on basically volunteer efforts and dedicated staff until just recently when they have begun to get some of this royalty money in and finally some grants for further work. So the fellow who plants 40000 plants gets a thriving business and the U of S gets not even a thanks for developing them unless there is a royalty or something like it. It really to me is a tough question because if we did not have good plants to choose from we would miss out on the experience of having them. And if we don't like it we are left with trying to find something in the wild that will suit our needs. So then we are robbing the biodiversity out of nature.

We could try growing from seeds but I can tell you that I have now planted about 500 plants and so far have about 10 that are worth keeping. Some of those seeds came out of the wild so even I have decreased the biodiversity of the natural stand somewhat although I did not get all the berries from the plants that produced the seed so that is a minimal invasion.

The genetics are only protected by honest people who see this as an opportunity to help the development process! There is very little to stop someone from taking cuttings and calling them something else and growing them and selling. Very few small organizations can afford to have something genetically proven to be their material so what is the likelihood of them ever following up.  This is already happening with at least two Russian varieties which are showing up on the market. The truth is very few people(read gardeners) will freely donate money to help further plant development.

The truth is if we go to the forest and remove plants or berries to some extent we are affecting the natural biodiversity. If we go buy a plant that has some "protected propagation rights" we are actually saving the biodiversity of the natural stands. Having worked in Barley breeding for a number of years, we seldom went back to the wild  for plant material to breed into the program. This is good! Especially if all that was taken in the first place was some seed and not the whole plant.

I have a friend who has bred Clematis for years. It cost him around $800 for registering (not sure 3 or 5 years) and he should have gotten some royalties from the sales. When it came time to renew he could not afford to pay the registration again. So every plant sold since then has returned him nothing! He has never even payed for the first registration! But people rave about his Clematis!

I do have problems with specific gene or rare plant or animal patenting (especially taking something out of nature) particularly if it is not self fertile but can out cross into other similar plants or animals. There is NO protection from these types of things in the natural environment and so the so called protected gene enters the natural realm and causes havoc; especially for farmers.

So buy two plants (Edible Blue Honeysuckle require 2 plants to cross pollinate), collect the seeds, grow them out and make your very own selections for the rest of the plants you would like to have. Or find someone who already is growing them and get seeds to grow from them."

This is a very small part of the whole question and there are many more angles to be considered.