S&W Seed Company announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted S&W a patent covering its unique stevia plant variety SW 227. S&W believes that its SW 227 variety has an excellent, sweet leaf taste with very low bitterness and aftertaste, and is late flowering, with high plant vigor characterized by extensive stooling and branching, enhanced dry leaf yields and leaves having an average rebaudioside A content of 10.7 percent.
The patent was issued on February 20, 2018, as U.S. Plant Patent PP28977. The term of an issued plant patent is the same as that of an issued utility patent, which is 20 years from the patent’s filing date. Based on the filing date, the patent for SW 227 will expire on March 31, 2036. This is S&W’s fourth patent granted for its unique stevia varieties.
Mark Wong, president and chief executive officer of S&W, says, “We are dedicated to developing stevia as a U.S.-grown crop. All stevia is currently produced in Asia. In speaking with potential stevia customers, we believe that there is significant demand for stevia produced in the United States and that S&W is uniquely positioned to develop this market opportunity.
“Our goal is to use our proprietary germplasm in stevia and leverage our farmer grower network to create a U.S.-based stevia production industry for high-quality stevia sweetener with superior taste profiles to supply major customers in the U.S. market.”
