t TRADE AND MARKET I NG ensive crop. This means that the price of seed from the new varieties don’t increase with the added value they offer. This also means that the growers can’t cash in this added value.’ Another business model In spite of the fact that plant breeder’s rights protect the position of the breeder, the buyers regard the licence fees as mounting costs. ‘That’s strange’, Backx continues, ‘because, for the entire sector the mounting costs are far higher. Perhaps breeders shouldn’t only ask a licence fee from the growers but ‘So I ask myself whether the current business model is the right one.’ tato breeding’, Gerard Backx explains. IRR of 0 percent. ‘So my conclusion is that potato breeding as a single source of income is not very attractive. Only if you’re also involved in the seed potato trade and can create your own market and also collect part of the margin, can you provide a financial basis for the venture, Backx knows. Buyer profit The people profiting most from breeding are the buyers of the seed according to Backx. ‘For them, breeding is the cheapest way to get a more stable crop and a more marketable product. The costs of the licence fee are no more than 1 euro per ton, not even 1 percent of the actual costs. The added value is much more than that 1 percent.’ Isn’t it odd that most breeders haven’t been able to collect that surplus value so far, is what Backx tells his Audience in China. ‘A major stumbling block is Farm Saved Seed (FSS). Worldwide, growers can choose whether to buy seed or pay for cultivating a second potato from all the parties in the chain. So I ask myself whether the current business model is the right one. Perhaps access to public money should be better organised. This would make stateof-the-art technology such as marker-driven breeding, hybrid breeding and the development of knowledge about the genetic background of a variety, available to a bigger group of companies. Where breeders of other crops have been using these new technologies successfully for many years, the potato breeders were lagging behind. Only when the costs dropped considerably, were the potato breeding companies won over. The potato sector is still lagging behind in breeding compared to other crops. In future, new technology will definitely have an important place, but it will be difficult to achieve the same results as other crops. That’s a pity for the development of the entire value chain of the potato. So profitable breeding will remain a Utopian dream for the potato chain’, is Backx’s conclusion. ● Jaap Delleman A big difference in breeding budgets and results between crops (G. Backx) Potato Area (world, hectares) Estimated breeding budget (euros) 30 million Breeding budget (euros per hectare) Annual genetic advance (%) 1,5 0.1 19,463,041 184,192,053 550 million 3,0 1.5 Maize Sugar beet 4,447,842 40 million 9,1 > 2 Potato World 2016 • number 2 5 Pagina 4
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