Australia
June 2023
It is 25 years ago that funding for breeding new plant varieties saw a dramatic shift when the End Point Royalty (EPR) system was introduced. Under this national system royalties are paid on the production from a crop released under the Plant Breeders Rights scheme. EPRs enable the continued development of high performance, superior plant varieties for all Australian growers and support efforts to compete in export markets.
One of the people at the centre of the move to EPRs was Victorian farmer and medic seed producer Brian Hedt. He came up with the initial concept for EPRs and worked with various industry representatives and governments to refine and establish the system.
It all started in 1993. At the time the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) was still the Single Desk and Jeff Kennett had become Victorian Premier. Mr Hedt said the industry received a directive to find alternative funding for research into new plant varieties instead of relying on Victorian taxpayers.
“The Victorian government declared traditional plant breeding “for the public good” was no longer tenable and breeders had to find a way to ‘monetise’ all future variety releases.”
As the owner of Revell Seeds at Dimboola and a major player in the pasture seed industry Mr Hedt was familiar with commercial seed production including OECD standards for certification, harvesting, cleaning, marketing domestically and exporting. He also had connections with the plant breeding institutions in Victoria and South Australia and had had input into recently enacted Plant Breeders Rights legislation.
Mr Hedt recalled his time helping convince international markets about Australia’s ability to produce pure lines of aphid resistant medic varieties to OECD standards. He said experience dealing with that issue helped prepare him for work with EPRs.
Following the Victorian government directives Mr Hedt was invited by personnel at Horsham’s plant breeding facility to offer suggestions regarding how future variety releases might be commercialised.
He said the traditional system for variety release was no longer “fit for purpose.” Mother seed was distributed in small bags to several small operators and growers waited years to access even small volumes of a new variety. The seed then supplied to farmers was “horrendously” expensive and there was a great risk of contamination as each farmer effectively “bulked up” their own small parcel of seed. Today private companies establish relationships with growers to produce seed in large tonnages taking into account their ability to guarantee varietal purity.
Following discussions with the Horsham folk in 1993 – while driving his tractor – Mr Hedt experimented with ideas about how to make plant breeding commercially viable, from a practical end-user view point.
“I carved out the basis for what I thought would be a workable system that would allow for the faster introduction of new varieties as well as financially rewarding the breeder. The beauty of the proposed system was that whilst rewarding the breeder it would not raise the price of the seed to the farmers much above the commodity price of the end product and would be available in bulk and by the truckload.”
Over the next three years what followed were many trips to Melbourne for various meetings, faxes and phone calls. Mr Hedt admits there were many a “battle royal” as they worked through ensuring the integrity of the certification system, nutted out a workable price for the EPRs and saw through enabling legislation nation wide.
“Our first principal was that it had to be a minimal cost to farmers or they would resist it.” Finally, EPRs were born. The breeder or their institution or company would receive the EPR less minimal admin costs.
“The national agreement was adopted Australia wide in 1996 when state and federal governments, breeders and GRDC signed off. The AWB and a number of private traders agreed to administer, collect and pass on EPRs from any grower who delivered grain to their sites. Victorian wheat varieties Silverstar and Goldmark were the first to be sold with EPRs applicable,” Mr Hedt said.
Over the last 25 years EPRs have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars being channeled back into plant breeding.
“Breeding new varieties is horrendously expensive and EPRs are self-regulating, rewarding breeders who produce superior varieties because growers will not continue to grow varieties that do not perform,” Mr Hedt said.
“EPRs have demonstrated their value in the last 25 years through the massive improvement in yields across an ever-widening range of species and varieties now in the market place. A lot of that has to do with the fact that plant breeders are rewarded as they should be via their EPR streams. “Farmers and traders who attempt to circumvent their obligation to pay EPRs are only damaging their own future prosperity,” Mr Hedt said.
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