b'With new marker technologies, breeders are able to reduce the cost and make hybrid production easier. It is still challenging because it requires crossing on a large scale. It is improved pollination control technologies that enable breeders to use the new marker technologies.Ryan WhitfordIf there is a drought event, it can knockbreeding program some years ago. the crop over, Whitford says. In that situ- According to Whitford, some of thoseEND-POINT ROYALTIESation, farmers are better off paying anwheat genetics were quite well devel-end-point royalty rather than with theoped. Now companies want to tap intoRoyalties enable plant breeders to receive a up-front seed cost. There are multipleknowledge by adding to the skillset ofreturn on their investment from seed users. In the facets to their decision as they considertheir research scientists who are look- United States, royalty fees are usually bundled whether or not to purchase hybrid wheat.ing into pollination control technologies.with the price of seed and are collected by the Traditionally, they are used to plantingThe extent of individual collaborations farm-saved seed year after year. depends on the skillsets involved and thebreeder or licensee when growers purchase seed. This is not to say that I think hybridpolitics behind it. Active global collabo- The Australian Plant Breeders Rights Act (1994) wheat will never happen in Australia. Irators include CIMMYT in Mexico, thestipulates royalty fees can be collected from think it will. For that to happen, the eco- University of Nebraska and a few insti- Australian growers as end-point royalties when nomics have to shift a bit, Whitford says.tutions in Europe as well the Australianthe crop is delivered to market. Royalty fees can be The economic improvement will dependCentre of Plant Functional Genomics.calculated on a per-unit basis (per ton, per cwt or on research and development fromThere is also renewed commercial activity, research centers such as the Australianbut it is generally surrounded by layersper bushel) or as a percentage of sale price. Grain Centre of Plant Functional Genomicsof confidentially. There is a bit of a racedealers collect the royalty fee and forward it to where I work. We are involved globallygoing on. There are global efforts.the authorized plant breeder. The per-acre royalty with major institutions and multinationalThe added yield benefits of hybridcost will vary depending on the amount of crop companies. Our work focuses on lower- wheat are likely to be realized as newproduced.ing the high cost of hybrid wheat breed- breeding technologies capable of lower-ing. Some researchers are working oning the cost of hybrid seed production areThe seed industry sees end-point royalty collection cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). Thatadopted over the next 10 years. I think weas a user-pay system. Proponents of this system is one of the new technologies that willwill see hybrids come on that are capa- argue that end-point royalties help share the risk of allow us to produce hybrid wheat seedble of reducing the cost of hybrid seedvariety and crop failure between growers and plant in a more economical fashion. With newproduction. As more money is investedbreeders. The better a crop yields, the more royalty marker technologies, breeders are able toin the technologies behind it, we will get reduce the cost and make hybrid produc- broader deployment of hybrids. I wouldfees are collected by the plant breeder. Royalties tion easier. It is still challenging becausereally like to see hybrid wheat come on.collected up-front at the point of seed sale protect it requires crossing on a large scale. It isHybrids are a nice value capture systemthe breeder and shift the risk to the grower. Even improved pollination control technolo- for other traits, whether that be genome- when a grower experiences a crop failure due to gies that enable breeders to use the newedited traits or GM traits for droughtdrought as is common in Australia, the royalty fee marker technologies.tolerance or nitrogen use efficiency,remains unchanged.Whitford sees considerable globalWhitford says. efforts being made to use geneticFrom a seed genetics companys pointSource: Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in resources, such as sequencing the wheatof view, another facet that sits behindAgriculture (ACIPA)genome. hybrid wheat is competition from farm-saved, brown-bag seed. Hybrid seed is a A Global Effort for Hybrid Wheat way of making sure that breeders propri-There are breeders and molecular geneti- etary traits are protected. Ultimately, plant cists with particular skill sets all aroundbreeding is a numbers game. Yield gain the world. Companies in the United Statesis what the race is about. One of the best and Europe are now looking to Australiatechnologies for achieving higher wheat because Australia had a hybrid wheatyields is hybrid breeding.SW42/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2021'