The Crop Doctor, GRDC

There’s no arguing the reality that Seed Licences, End Point Royalties (EPR) and Plant Breeders’ Rights add up to a complicated and confusing business for many graingrowers.

Thanks to its Regional Panels, Research Advisory Committees (RACs) and other industry relationships, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is well aware of grower concerns about high initial seed prices, restrictions on farmer to farmer trading, collection methods and perceptions of  “double-dipping”.

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has been supporting the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA) since 2002, with the aim of monitoring the changes in agribusiness practices and developments in intellectual property law likely to have a direct impact on Australian graingrowers.

Now the corporation  is supporting a series of workshops by ACIPA around the country, aiming to inform growers, distributors and advisers of their rights and obligations in relation to PBR protected crop varieties.

There’ll be one held in the Goondiwindi Training and Technology Centre on March 28, with ACIPA associate director, Professor Robert Burrell, discussing the full range of Seed Licence, PBR and EPR issues.

The workshop will be free and run for about two hours from 9.30 am.  

To register contact Carol Ballard, ACIPA on 07 3346 7506 or email: c.ballard@law.uq.edu.au

The Crop Doctor, Peter Reading, is managing director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Canberra.

More about the workshop series
"Seed Licences, End Point Royalties (EPR) and Plant Breeders’ Rights: Issues for the Grains Industry"
at http://www.acipa.edu.au/frame_training.html