When was the requirement to pay for the use of farm-saved seed introduced?
The UPOV Convention was amended in 1991 to cover payments on farm-saved seed. This struck an important balance between farmers longstanding tradition of saving seed, and the contribution of modern plant breeding to the significant genetic gains enjoyed by growers. The right of plant breeders to charge a royalty on farm-saved seed became EU law in 1994 and was passed into UK law in 1998. Although farm-saved seed offers the same genetic advantage as certified seed, this legislation stipulated that royalty payments on farm-saved seed must be sensibly lower than on certified seed. 7.
