Consider Plant Breeders Rights when buying pasture seed

Page last updated: Tuesday, 31 May 2022 - 7:09am

Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review.

In the market for supplies of pasture seed this year?

You should be aware that some pasture cultivars are protected by Plant Breeder’s Rights (PBR) under the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994. Plant varieties subject to PBR can only be produced for sale by parties authorised by the breeder of the plant variety.

The Western Australian Agriculture Authority (WAAA) has PBR over a number of protected cultivars as listed below. If you would like seed of one of these cultivars please contact the relevant authorised licensee(s).

PBR label.jpg

Table 1 Licensees for PBR protected pasture cultivars
Cultivar	Licensee
Antillo subclover	Seed Force
Bindoon subclover	PGG Wrightson Seeds
Coolamon subclover	PGG Wrightson Seeds
Eliza French serradella	Ballard Seeds
Forbes subclover	Seed Force
Izmir subclover	PGG Wrightson Seeds
Margurita French serradella	Ballard Seeds, Eastern Districts Seed Co
Narrikup subclover	Seed Force
Nitro Plus Persian clover	Barenbrug
Rosabrook subclover	Seed Force
Rouse subclover	Seed Force
SerraMax yellow serradella	Prairie Nominees, Daniel Bell, TG & RC Browne, Woodstock Trading, WR Hagboom & Co
T15-1218 Lanza tedera	Seednet
Tammin subclover	Seed Force
Tarlee subclover	Seed Force
Yanco subclover	Seed Force
Yelbini yellow serradella	WR Hagboom & Co

Table 2 Contact details of licensees
Licensee	Contact details
Ballard Seeds	(08) 9881 5711 sales@ballardseeds.com.au
Barenbrug	1800 007 333 orders@barenbrug.com.au
Daniel Bell	0428 955 033 danchasbel@yahoo.com
Eastern Districts Seed Co	(08) 9045 4036 edsco@wn.com.au
PGG Wrightson Seeds	1800 619 910 info@pggwrightsonseeds.com.au
Prairie Nominees	0488 747 000 farm@prairienom.com.au
Seed Force	(03) 5832 3800 office@seedforce.com
Seednet	1300 799 246 Admin@seednet.com.au
TG & RC Browne	0428 221 571 trentonandrachel@activ8.net.au
Woodstock Trading	(08) 9871 1582 woodstocktrading@westnet.com.au
WR Hagboom & Co	0427 341 026 hagboom@skymesh.com.au

Any unauthorised production, reproduction, conditioning, sale, offers for sale, import and export of protected pasture seed may be an infringement of the PBR Act. The PBR Act allows for both civil and criminal proceedings for infringement.

As well as potentially being in breach of the PBR Act when buying seed of PBR protected cultivars from an unlicensed supplier (commonly referred to as 'over the fence' trading), there is also greater risk of ending up with poor quality seed. It is preferable when purchasing any seed to request a seed analysis statement that provides evidence of cultivar purity, together with weed and germination status of the seed.