Jackie Burns
Producing and Licensing New Plant Varieties Developed by UF/IFAS Plant Breeders
By Jackie Burns,
UF/IFAS dean for research and director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
For more than a century, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) plant breeders have released new plant varieties with superior traits such as improved disease resistance, greater yields and better flavor. The varieties developed by UF/IFAS have had tremendous economic benefit to the state of Florida and its agricultural producers.
New plant varieties are developed to meet growers’ needs and thrive under Florida’s unique growing seasons, soils, temperatures, production practices, pests and diseases. A new variety is released when research shows that it has new and improved traits tested over multiple sites. In many commodities, this process may take 10 to 20 years and cost millions of dollars.
UF/IFAS provides new plant varieties to growers through licensing agreements. In return, growers pay royalties that are reinvested in the breeding program. The licensing agreements contain terms to prevent unauthorized production and distribution of the licensed plant varieties.
UF/IFAS plant varieties are licensed on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis. Exclusive licenses begin with a public announcement called an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN). Companies responding to the ITN must demonstrate production, commercialization, protection and marketing plans for the plant variety. A non-exclusive license is one granted to multiple companies and does not require an ITN.
UF/IFAS breeding programs have international ties for many reasons. Their viability depends on the infusion of new traits such as disease resistance and drought tolerance via the international exchange of germplasm. Critical UF/IFAS goals are food security and to help feed the world as its population approaches 9 billion by 2050. U.S. agriculture is increasingly global — importing, exporting and producing crops abroad. Global agricultural companies request international licenses for UF/IFAS plant varieties.
UF/IFAS will grant an international license when the new variety fits a need and a sound strategy for protecting the variety from unauthorized distribution is demonstrated. Once an international license is granted, commercial production of a variety may take up to five years in that country. If varieties are not protected and licensed, they fall into the public domain in foreign countries and are available free of charge to anyone and are subject to wider distribution.
Florida growers benefit from UF/IFAS plant variety licensing efforts. For every U.S. dollar returned as royalty to UF/IFAS, 70 cents is reinvested in the breeding program. Twenty cents is distributed to the plant breeder. The remaining 10 cents is distributed to the IFAS administration and is used to build and strengthen all UF/IFAS plant breeding programs. Foreign licensees pay royalties at a higher rate than U.S. producers. So, their contribution to the breeding program is greater, further supporting efforts to research and develop new cultivars for Florida stakeholders.
Some Florida grower organizations engage in national and international licensing. When UF/IFAS varieties become available, these organizations respond to the ITN and license cultivars on behalf of their grower members. In doing so, rebates and other benefits are returned to their members that may offset dues or other association fees. And, organizations often use returned funds to support the conduct of critical research prioritized by their members.
UF/IFAS’ licensing decisions are founded on four guiding principles: 1) what is good for the state of Florida and its people, including the growers of the commodity, 2) what is good for the University of Florida and IFAS, 3) what is good for the breeding program and the breeders, and 4) in the case of food crops, what is good for world food security. The licensing guidelines followed by UF/IFAS were published on our website in January 2014 (http://research.ifas.ufl.edu/docs/pdf/cultivar-release-guidelines.pdf) and resulted from a public meeting held in August 2012. The meeting was attended by stakeholders and commodity group representatives from across the state of Florida, and the results were made available for public comment during the fall of 2013 to all major commodity groups in Florida.