WITH everyone suddenly becoming aware of the need to increase food production in the World, the spotlight fell this week on those at the forefront-plant breeders and especially Scotland's role in bringing forward new crop varieties
Speaking in Dundee, Dr Nigel Kerby, of Mylnefield Research Services, said there was a now a great need for more investment in plant breeding.
The main crop breeding station in this country is the Scottish Crop Research Institute, of which MRS i
s the marketing arm. It already has a worldwide reputation for new cultivars of potatoes, raspberries, blackcurrants and cereals.
To further bolster their position, Kerby said they would be adding to their plant breeding staff.
As an example of the importance Scottish bred crops have on the world market, MRS has just signed a deal to produce raspberries in China with varieties bred in this country.
Along with Chinese, Danish and Hungarian partners, the joint venture is based just outside Beijing and this year some 46 hectares of fruit are in production.
While there is currently no plant royalties legislation relating to raspberries in China, Kerby reckoned a good deal has been struck.
No money had been invested, only the intellectual property relating to the varieties but already the value of the new company was almost two million dollars.
There is always a concern that the exporting of new varieties will come back to haunt Scottish growers, if imports from these crops then come back and undermine local production. Kerby was aware of this possibility but stated it was a condition of the deal that no fruit from the SCRI-bred varieties could be exported without SCRI consent.
SCRI have just completed a major legal battle with Spanish raspberry growers in the Huelva region who have been growing an SCRI-bred variety, Glen Lyon, without paying plant royalty fees.
A robust legal challenge to this illegality has been successful, he said, with more than three-quarters of the growers now paying "significant sums" to the breeding station.
Although not involved in the Chinese deal, a new variety of raspberry was unveiled by SCRI this week. Glen Fyne is the first variety which the breeders think will cater for both the fresh and processing sectors of the market.
The full article contains 385 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
