The impact of patents on plant breeding using biotechnology

Abstract

No matter what new gene a crop cultivar contains, unless its genetic background supports good agronomic performance it will be of no practical interest to growers and farmers. For this reason, a major part of the application of biotechnology to plant breeding has been the field trials to prove the agronomic qualities of newly engineered forms. On the other hand, patents are very important in industry, while they restrict research access. To insure that the benefits of new technologies reaching the public, intellectual property rights and agreements hindering this must be limited.