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My name is Dick Lower. I am an associate dean of the college 

 of agricultural and life sciences at the University of Wisconsin- 

 Madison and also associate director of the Wisconsin Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. 



Currently, I serve as chair of the national experiment station 

 subcommittee on plant germplasm and the steering committee for 

 the workshop on intellectual property rights and protection of plant 

 materials, which was held here in Washington in 1993. 



This workshop was developed to answer questions regarding pro- 

 tection of plant germplasm. I would like to further define that as 

 seed and vegetatively propagated genetic material, cell and tissue 

 culture lines, DNA fragments and pollen. 



Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the invitation to take 

 part in this hearing. 



Public germplasm research has been conducted for over a cen- 

 tury, and it is a primary responsibility of the State agricultural ex- 

 periment stations. These stations employ approximately 6,000 fac- 

 ulty throughout the United States, and about 350 of our scientists 

 are plant breeders. They are directly involved in the development 

 of improved germplasm for food, fiber, and ornamental crops. 



In many crops, the role of variety development has been very 

 successfully transferred from the public to private industry. How- 

 ever, contributions from public germplasm programs continue to re- 

 sult in improved pest resistance, product quality, and profitability 

 as well as new knowledge. 



The successes of State agricultural experiment stations include 

 cooperation with public agencies as well as private industry in 

 germplasm research. Much of this success can be attributed to two 

 things: First, the free exchange of information and the free ex- 

 change of germplasm; and, second, the development of a coopera- 

 tive infrastructure that allows new germplasm to be acquired, 

 maintained, shared, developed, enhanced and ultimately accepted 

 by both science and commerce. 



Equally important are the contributions of the State agricultural 

 experiment stations in the instruction, education, and training of 

 the next generation of scientists involved in germplasm-related ac- 

 tivities. 



The experiment stations developed and released plant 

 germplasm guidelines in 1989. They espoused the philosophy that 

 these stations may protect plant germplasm through any number 

 of mechanisms. Plant variety protection certificates, plant patents, 

 utility patents and other forms of protection, including restrictive 

 releases and restricted use agreements, are presently practiced. 



The research exemption authorized under the Plant Variety Pro- 

 tection Act which allows use of protected material in research in 

 plant improvement programs has contributed positively to the ex- 

 change of information in germplasm. 



We support the essentially derived provision of H.R. 2927 that 

 allows recompense to the initial inventor when a new germplasm 

 development is released that utilizes the initial protected 

 germplasm and is competitive with the initial inventor's property. 

 Our successes in developing food and fiber germplasm have obvi- 

 ously been based on the sharing of genetic resources. 



