Enforcement boost for FAIR PLAY campaign

BSPB has reported good progress in strengthening arrangements for tackling
evasion of farm-saved seed payments in the first year of the FAIR PLAY campaign.

The Society has carried out a major communications drive in partnership with the farming unions to ensure all farmers using farm-saved seed are clear about their legal responsibilities.

BSPB has also invested in the development of a bespoke farmer database, allowing 24,000 farm-saved seed declaration forms to be issued for Autumn 2005 collections, a fourfold increase on previous years.

Some encouraging initial results were achieved in the first twelve months:

  • the vast majority of declaration forms were completed and returned, with only a few hundred outstanding non-returns now being chased by BSPB;
  • a 38% overall increase in direct farmer payments, whose share of total FSS collections rose from 15.5% to 18.7%;
  • a near doubling of direct farmer payments on FSS winter beans, a crop more often sown 'straight from the barn'.

However, while total FSS collections for autumn 2005 plantings increased by 14% to £4.5 million, this was set against further declines in certified seed sales, and a further increase in use of farm-saved seed.

Overall, this suggests that levels of FSS evasion are still running high, and BSPB's focus has now switched from raising awareness among farmers to ensuring the rights of plant breeders are enforced.

Central to the enforcement regime is the new farmer database, designed to record and interrogate the cropping details of individual farmers with the express purpose of ensuring compliance on farm-saved seed. This enables BSPB to record and monitor farmers' seed and variety use which, combined with access to certified seed sales data and processor information, will provide a powerful tool to verify the accuracy of FSS declarations and identify specific instances or patterns of non-compliance.

BSPB has also strengthened resources behind the new system, including the appointment
of a full-time IP enforcement officer.

BSPB chairman Chris Green said:

'The original objective of the FAIR PLAY campaign was to plug a farm-saved seed payment gap estimated at more than £2 million per year. Some encouraging progress has been made in year one, largely as a result of our ability to contact four times as many farmers as before.

'But the true value of the strengthened enforcement regime will only be demonstrated as the database is able to build a picture of farmers' seed use and FSS declarations over successive seasons. We are confident that, over time, this system will establish the level playing field needed to ensure that all farmers contribute fairly for the benefits of improved varieties, and to safeguard plant breeders' investment in future improvements.'

13 June 2006
   
© BSPB 2005