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Anthony Parker is the new president of UPOV. PHOTO: martinphotography.ca<\/p>\nI was honoured to recently be put forward for the role of president of International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). It\u2019s been incredibly important to me throughout my career, especially as commissioner of Canada\u2019s Plant Breeders\u2019 Rights Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anthony Parker is the new president of UPOV. PHOTO: martinphotography.ca<\/p>\n
UPOV is a global community I\u2019ve been involved with for nearly 15 years, and when your peers from around the world place that kind of confidence in you, it\u2019s truly humbling.<\/p>\n
What makes UPOV remarkable is that it continues to meet the moment. At its core, it exists to promote effective plant variety protection for the benefit of society \u2014 not just breeders, but farmers, consumers and the broader public as well. That means supporting agricultural productivity, food security and innovation all at once.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The foundation is strong, but what has always impressed me is how adaptable the organization is. Every time a new challenge or technology emerges, the community comes together to ensure the framework keeps pace.<\/p>\n
Some people point out that the 1991 Convention is now more than three decades old, but the legal principles embedded within it remain sound. The real strength of the system is its ability to evolve through explanatory notes and collective interpretation. A great example is the concept of Essentially Derived Varieties (EDVs).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Originally, EDVs were developed to address issues like backcrossing and genetic modification, where changes were being made to a single trait. Today, we live in a world of advanced gene editing where multiple traits can be altered simultaneously with profound implications. The UPOV community revisited the explanatory note on EDVs, modernized it and ensured it remained relevant for today\u2019s technologies. That\u2019s how the system works \u2014 not through constant reinvention, but through thoughtful adaptation.<\/p>\n
I also believe we are seeing a meaningful shift in attitudes toward innovation, investment and competition in Canada. It\u2019s not happening uniformly across every crop sector, and that\u2019s OK. Different sectors move at different speeds. But we\u2019ve already seen some remarkable success stories.<\/p>\n
One example I often point to is the greenhouse vegetable sector. When Canada strengthened intellectual property protection and began accepting foreign data to establish Plant Breeders\u2019 Rights, it was like opening the doors to innovation. Applications and new vegetable varieties surged. It gave producers access to cutting-edge genetics and more choice, while creating the kind of competitive environment that drives continued innovation.<\/p>\n
What I appreciate about the UPOV framework is that it\u2019s flexible enough to adapt to the needs of different sectors. It can support breeder investment while also reflecting the realities producers face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve had many successes, but there are still areas where progress has been slower. One ongoing challenge is the conversation around fair compensation for farm-saved seed. Farmers have long had the autonomy to save and reuse seed in crops like cereals and pulses, and that tradition matters. But at the same time, breeding new varieties requires significant investment, time and expertise. If innovation is going to come from both public and private breeding programs, there has to be a system that fairly rewards that investment.<\/p>\n
Historically, Canada has relied heavily on the public sector, and that system has delivered tremendous value. But public breeding programs haven\u2019t had to operate under the same commercial realities as private investment. As private breeders increasingly look to contribute, there can be two different sets of expectations at play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think part of the challenge is helping people understand that fair remuneration for innovation isn\u2019t about taking something away from producers \u2014 it\u2019s about creating long-term stability in plant breeding and ensuring Canada remains competitive globally.<\/p>\n
These kinds of changes take time. Sometimes the journey spans a decade or more. My view is that our role is to continue providing clear information about the benefits, maintain open dialogue and allow sectors to make decisions in their own time.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s most important is that these decisions are thoughtful. Good consultation, good collaboration and deliberate discussion almost always lead to better outcomes than rushed decisions. That\u2019s something we must respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was honoured to recently be put forward for the role of president of International Union for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,11573,35174,11574],"class_list":["post-93999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-featured-canada","tag-giant-views","tag-seed-world-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}