Plant breeding and related programs are a vital component to ensure the on-going productivity and prosperity of the grains industry. Such breeding ensures new varieties have enhanced yields, quality attributes and disease resistance to add value and meet various market demands.
The reduction in State Government funding and resources towards plant breeding programs has seen their rationalization in recent years. While the introduction of plant breeding rights in 1994 has provided a commercial incentive (through end point royalties) for private companies to invest in plant breeding, this has to date not addressed the void left through the removal of the barley breeding program from southern NSW, the dual purpose oats breeding program from Temora and the removal of cereal management, pasture and fertilizer trials from mixed farming districts throughout the state.
Given the onset of globalization and increasing competition from countries utilizing particularly biotechnology, it is important that these programs are reintroduced so that Australian growers can effectively compete in the international trading arena. It is also important that with the trend of increasing privatization of plant breeding, that new winter cereal varieties are appropriately performance benchmarked through the National Variety Trial (NVT) system before their commercial release so that informed purchasing decisions by growers can be undertaken. Further, given such trends it is imperative that the End Point Royalty system is improved and made more consistent between breeding companies.
Plant breeding and related programs are a vital component to ensure the on-going productivity and prosperity of the grains industry. Such breeding ensures new varieties have enhanced yields, quality attributes and disease resistance to add value and meet various market demands.