The bill is clear. I don't know of any specific cereal, to the extent that a breeder has been able to add a certain degree of improvement to a variety and have a proprietary claim. As we said time and again, plant breeders' rights are not patent rights because they allow breeders to do research with their products, but they exclude farmers from partaking. The question becomes about people who do breeding and also do farming. The multiple layers of interest in agricultural landscape means that, when the bill really becomes a law, there will be a lot of issues. That's why I like the idea of a law to border on subsidiary regulation. I go back to article 9 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. It says clearly that parties to this convention would ensure that farmers will participate in any decision that affects their interest. I'm interested in whether the regulatory process would be sophisticated enough to enable this kind of participation of every dimension of interest, particularly with smallhold farmers.
On October 21st, 2014. See this statement in context.