Impacts of changes to Canada's Plant Breeders' Rights Act

Abstract

On February 27, 2015, as part of the Agricultural Growth Act, amendments to the Canada's Plant Breeders' Rights (PBRs) Act came into force, making Canada compliant with Union for the Protection of the New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 91. One objective of adopting UPOV 91 was that it would encourage increased investment in plant breeding, giving Canadian farmers greater access to new and innovative plant varieties that enable them to be more globally competitive. To assess whether the adoption of UPOV 91 impacted crop variety investments, a survey of Canadian public and private plant breeders was undertaken in 2021–2022. Results indicate that the length of research grants play a significant role in plant breeders' perspectives. Previous research indicated that the adoption of UPOV 91 provided minimal incentives to increase investments. Results of this survey indicate that 52% of respondents, either agree or strongly agree, that the amendments to the PBR Act have provided an incentive to increase plant breeding investments.