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The access to and adoption of new varieties has been a cornerstone of previous five year strategic plans for the tree fruit sector, and it would be a surprise if this important topic were not part of the soon to be released (or perhaps, by the time you read this, the recently released) Tree Fruit Stabilization Initiative of the BC Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries.
For tree fruit growers, access to varieties is a priority as new varieties are the best opportunity to receive higher prices for apples or cherries. New varieties attract premium pricing in the marketplace because they are either ‘new’ or are a bit older but protected from overproduction.
Another requirement for premium pricing is that the new variety must have superior or unique attributes, such as unique combinations of flavour and texture, like Ambrosia, or timing of ripeness that places the variety production in a time where there is less production and less competition, like Staccato. The Summerland Research Station has had a very strong track record of releasing the top cherry varieties in the world and there are promising apple varieties in the development pipeline.
Ambrosia was early on the scene of club varieties; it was ‘clubbed’ in the rest of the world but not in Canada. What is a variety club? Because varieties are owned by the inventor/discoverer, that allows the owner to collect royalties on whoever plants the variety, but more importantly the owner can control who can plant or sell the variety. This ownership is enabled by Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) - a concept supported worldwide to encourage investment in and discovery of new plant varieties.
Prior to this control by the owner, a new variety was simply released to the world, with no rights of the owner to the variety. Anyone could plant as much of a pre-PBR variety as they wanted to, and they did. For varieties with promise, such as Gala, early plantings were lucrative for the grower, but as more and more Gala trees were planted, the variety moved from a premium to a commodity product. The price crashed.
Enter PBR. The variety owner can extend the life of the variety by limiting access. Growers would need to join a variety club in order to gain access to trees and in order to sell the apples produced by those trees. The effective control of variety releases was quickly realized not to be in the nursery trade (though commercial nurseries are a key component in the replication of trees and the collection of royalties), but packinghouses and marketers.
It is of interest that in an area which does not control access to Ambrosia (i.e. British Columbia), market returns are lower than in areas where a club controls the marketing of the variety (i.e. Asia and Europe), although Asia is protected by trademark rather than PBR.
Almost all new varieties are now released as club varieties. Access to the club is usually through a packinghouse (or marketer) which has signed a license with the variety owner.
One issue of PBR is that the rights expire after a number of years, and this period varies by country and also can change from time to time. If PBR for a particular variety in a country expires after 20 years, that variety reverts to the ‘open access’ concept and oversupply can occur. Most new varieties are therefore now released as numbered varieties under PBR protection. The variety name is separately trademarked without expiry. Thus the variety protection is in two steps; one step provides PBR protection (say 20 years) early in the variety’s life when it is growing in popularity, and the other trademark protection (longer term) which is of use later in the life of the variety after PBR protection expires. In theory, the risk of oversupply of the product can be controlled by the variety owner forever.
An interesting demonstration of the difference between trademarking and PBR is the Pink Lady™ apple. The variety is actually Cripps Pink, originating in Australia in 1973 by John Cripps. In Canada, anyone can plant and sell a Cripps Pink. However, the name “Pink Lady” is trademarked and in order to use the “Pink Lady” trademark when selling the apple, a license is required and fees must be paid.
Why would someone pay to use the name “Pink Lady”, when the very same apple could be sold as a Cripps Pink with no payment for using the name? Marketing is key. The success of the Pink Lady™ apple is that the license fees collected for use of the name are invested and earn a higher price for Pink Lady™ than the unsupported Cripps Pink. The funds for use of the Pink Lady trademark are reinvested into product promotion, quality standards, and market control. If everything goes well in the marketing plan, premium prices for the apples are the result.
In recent years, and in future, almost all apple varieties will be released as club varieties. One of the first releases in Canada as a club variety is the Snowflake™ apple, which is licensed to the regional packer Algoma Orchards by Summerland Varieties Corp. on behalf of the variety owner, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It is with great anticipation that the Snowflake™ apple will hit Ontario stores in coming years after a long wait and a lot of planning and investment.
Several new AAFC apple varieties are in the pipeline and nearing release, but it is a long pipeline from start to finish, usually over 20 years. Watch this space for more on the new apple variety pipeline, and also more about AAFC new cherry variety releases.
Glen Lucas, General Manager, BC Fruit Growers’ Association