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This article presents an overview of appropriability conditions that are impacted by the Plant Variety Protection Law (LPC) in Brazil. The LPC was drafted in Brazil in 1997 after a long discussion that involved both international and national pressure for property rights regulations. The national perspective observed the sanction of this Law as an important strategy for bridging intellectual property rights and technological development. Although a new agricultural context was created by LPC, its efficiency in promoting appropriability for high yield varieties has been questioned and its capability of including the characteristics of agricultural cultures has been contested. David Teece’s approach on appropriability and complementary assets guides this analysis that also revises data provided by the National Plant Variety Protection from 1997 to 2016, and shows that although LPC have had an important role in institutionalizing high yield research and development in Brazil, it does not immediately guarantee appropriability.

This study indicates that the agricultural production of Japan from 1873 to 1922 was higher than official records indicate, and that this higher rate of Japanese production was partially responsible for the swift economic growth of Japan. Originally published in 1966. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Spanish version available in IDRC Digital Library: Control futuro de los alimentos : guía de las negociaciones y reglas internacionales sobre la propiedad intelectual, la biodiversidad y la seguridad alimentaria

In this work, we examine the debate over the commodification of agricultural germplasm in Mexico using a neo-Marxist theoretical framework. Specifically, we examine Mexico's movement away from a ''Farmers' Rights'' framework, which treats germplasm as a ''common good'' towards the passage of the Mexican Federal Law on Plant Varieties, which sees germplasm as a commodity. In order to understand this legal change, the recent history of this discourse in Mexico is examined. Using theoretical insights based in an analysis of this discourse, we examine the ideological elements of this debate. It is argued that an international hegemonic bloc has arisen to address this issue, superceding the bounds of any single state entity and functioning through the international bodies of free trade. Taking the Mexican state to be relatively autonomous from capital, we argue that the hegemonic bloc influenced the change in Mexican policy. We conclude with a discussion of the possible effects of this legal change in Mexico. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Crop landraces are genetically variable populations of agricultural plant species that through natural evolution and farmers’ selection and continuous cultivation have been adapted to the environment of their origin or cultivation. To be used and officially traded, there are more lax or strict registration schemes throughout the world concerning the application of distinctiveness, uniformity, stability (DUS) system. This review discusses the legislative framework of various countries worldwide and evaluates its application efficiency with a detailed focus on European Union (EU) experience. Especially in EU, landraces must be registered as conservation varieties in the European Catalogue of Varieties. A total of 313 agricultural and 173 vegetable conservation varieties were registered in the European Catalogues from 2013 to 2021. However, it is not clear how many of these registries are landraces because obsolete varieties are also included under the term conservation varieties. Moreover, our review reports the importance of landraces for the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and EU strategies, namely ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘Biodiversity’. Additionally, the DUS criteria were evaluated for their use when a crop landrace is registered taking into consideration the genetic structure of a landrace. Furthermore, the connection of landraces with Farmers’ Rights, their appropriateness for organic agriculture, and trade issues are discussed. Finally, the new proposal of European Commission on Plant Reproductive Material concerning landraces is critically reviewed and improvements are suggested.

In the field of Community plant variety rights, a contractual clause conferring on the holder of intellectual property rights in respect of patented cultivars also the power to determine the persons who alone will be entitled to distribute the fruits obtained by the producer, previously authorised to use the variety constituents of the protected variety from which such fruits were produced, where such fruits are not likely to be used as propagating material, is null and void as contrary to public order, on the ground of infringement of Art. 13(2) and (3) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2100/94, as interpreted by the CJEU.

Background and aims In addition to improving vegetation, grazing prohibition changes the soil micro-environment. Soil enzymes and microbes, which are the chief constituents responsible for mediation of most of the processes involved in energy and material fluxes of ecosystems, are very sensitive to changing environments. This study aimed to illustrate the effects of grazing prohibition on vegetation and soil enzyme characteristics, and to elucidate the responses of soil fungal and bacterial function and community composition on grazing prohibition for 10 years in a Qinghai-Tibetan alpine meadow. Methods About 6 hm 2 lightly degraded alpine meadows were selected in 2006, and half of which were fenced to completely prohibit grazing throughout the year, while the other half were subjected to free yak grazing. Four different plots in each site were selected as experimental fields in 2016. Soil microbial characteristics were analyzed by high-throughput gene detection. Results Grazing prohibition had no significant impact on vegetable Shannon-Wiener diversities or below-ground biomass, but dramatically changed the above-ground biomass and soil phosphatase activity. In the Qinghai-Tibetan alpine meadow, bacteria are dominant members of the soil microbial community. Grazing prohibition significantly increased the fungal species diversity and the abundance of pathotrophs, saprotrophs and symbiotrophs, while it had no effect on soil bacterial diversity and functional structure. A total of 100.0% of the variations in fungi and bacteria could be explained by plant variables. The reciprocal action among plant biomass (i.e. above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass), plant diversities (i.e. Shannon-wiener diversity, species number, coverage) and species important value have a great impact on soil microbial composition variations. Conclusion Long-term grazing prohibition restrained the phosphatase activity and increased the abundance of pathotrophic fungi but had no effect on the abundance of functional bacteria, which participate in the soil biogeochemistry cycling process. Grazing prohibition for 10 years did not improve the community structure of functional microorganisms related to carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, and appropriate grazing could maintain the sustainable utilization of grassland resources.

For the purposes of granting a plant variety patent, the requirement of novelty is not lost as a result of mere disclosure (i.e. the accessibility of the invention to an indefinite number of persons who are in the position to learn its essential and characteristic elements, so that they can reproduce it; here: resulting from the granting of the patent in the United States), but as a result of the performance of acts of marketing and commercialization of the material for multiplying the variety. The fact that a new plant variety has been subject to trials or submitted for entry in an official register cannot be invoked against the breeder or his successor in title for the purposes of denying patent protection. The annual term established for the exercise of the priority right with reference to the application for a patent for plant varieties is expressly defined as “peremptory” by Art. 3 of Presidential Decree No. 974 of 1975, and failure to observe it prevents the applicant from linking the new application to the original one, thus excluding any possibility of backdating the novelty assessment to the time of the first application, and thus imposing the novelty assessment at the date of the application in Italy, without the patent granted abroad being of any importance. Such, however, does not prevent the patent from being granted in Italy, since novelty must be assessed on the basis of the criteria mentioned above.

Gryllus madagascarensis (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) is a cricket species that shows promise to mitigate food insecurity and malnutrition. But whether this species will accept low- to no-cost weeds and agro by-products as feed, and how these feeds affect its performance, remains unknown. This study assessed the acceptability of 66 weed species and agro by-products (derived from a single plant species) by adult G . madagascarensis and compared the results to a reference feed (chicken feed). We further examined how the 11 top acceptable single plant products affected growth parameters of G . madagascarensis . The parameters assessed included development, survivorship, body mass and body length and reproductive fitness of the crickets on each of these diets. Finally, the costs of the 11 top accepted single plant products were compared. Our results demonstrated that the cricket accepted all 66 single plant products at varying degrees. Tropical white morning glory ( Ipomoea alba ), cassava tops ( Manhot esculentum ), taro leaves ( Colocasia esculenta ), cowpea bran ( Vigna unguiculata ), American hog-peanut ( Afroamphica africana ), gallant soldier ( Galinsoga parviflora ), wheat bran ( Triticum aestivum ), glycine ( Neonotonia wightii ), silver leaf Desmodium ( Desmodium uncinatum ), maize bran ( Zea mays ) and rice bran ( Oryza sativa ) were the most accepted. The analysed nutrient content varied across the top 11 accepted single plant products and the reference feed. The shortest development and highest survival rate were recorded with gallant soldier and cowpea bran powders. Wet body mass and body length were highly impacted by various single plant products tested compared to the reference feed. Reproductive parameters were significantly briefer on tropical white morning glory compared to other feeds and the reference diet. Single plant products cost two- to four-fold less than reference feed. The findings are valuable for developing blended diets that balance performance, cost and availability for household and commercial production of crickets as a “green” technology for producing edible sources of protein.

In matters concerning patents for plant varieties, the requirements for the granting of breeders’ rights include novelty and distinctness and the variety is deemed distinct when it is clearly distinguishable from any “other” variety whose existence, on the date of filing the application, is a matter of common knowledge. Where we are speaking of the same variety, for which the breeder (or their successor) has applied for plant variety rights to be granted in another state, the question of a lack of distinctness does not arise, since the “same” variety cannot be included in the concept of any “other” variety that is a matter of common knowledge; the same variety is not therefore relevant for the purposes of the distinctness assessment provided for by law.