Floral Breeding Protections Included in Farm Bill
June 26, 2018 
The Senate’s version of the next Farm Bill includes language updating a law that protects the intellectual property of floral industry breeders, according to a report on the Society of American Florists’ (SAF) website. The provision was also in the House version of the bill, which means it is “a virtual certainty that the final bill, when passed, will include the language,” says Shawn McBurney, Senior Director of Government Relations at SAF.
The provision is a win for the floral industry, whose members have advocated for the important updates on Capitol Hill, according to Jamie Kitz of Sakata Seed Inc.
“We are elated the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act expansion is now in both the House and Senate Farm Bills,” says Kitz, a member of SAF’s Growers Council who lobbied on Capitol Hill in support of the revised language. “Providing this additional protection for breeding innovation contributes to the health and growth of our industry and brings the U.S. in line with other countries for plant breeding protection.”
Dr. Marvin Miller of Ball Horticultural Company agrees, adding that the changes will encourage and protect more innovation among breeders, to the benefit of the growers, wholesalers, and retailers.
“New varieties are the lifeblood of the plant breeding industry,” Miller says. “To keep the incentives in place and the new variety pipelines flowing, breeders must have protections for their innovations. The changes proposed in the Farm Bill to the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act secure these protections.”
Learn more about the history of the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act and how it has evolved in the original SAF article.
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