What role does plant breeders’ rights play in driving agricultural innovation? Marcel Bruins, Editorial Director of Seed World Europe, interviews Yolanda Huerta, Vice Secretary-General at the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), to discuss the evolving landscape of plant variety protection (PBR) and how new gene editing technologies are impacting breeders and farmers.
Yolanda explains UPOV’s approach to creating effective intellectual property systems that promote innovation while ensuring farmers have access to improved varieties. From tackling challenges in balancing farmer seed exceptions to developing new guidance for essentially derived varieties (EDVs), this interview sheds light on how intellectual property protection enables continuous investment in plant breeding—benefiting farmers, breeders, and society at large.
