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I should state from the outset that it is not Farm Bureau's intention to 

 provide any protection to those individuals whose activities are clearly designed to 

 compete with the sale of protected varieties. Farmers should be allowed to save 

 an adequate amount of seed to plant their holdings twice. This allows for 

 replanting in the event of failed germination. If the farmer does not utilize the 

 full amount of his saved seed on his holdings, he should be allowed to sell the 

 r emaining conditioned seed since it is often not marketable as grain. A total 

 prohibition on such sales could result in farmers having to try to store small 

 quantities of treated seed for long periods of time and could lead to contamination 

 of other grain and feed sources. These situations would create undue hardships 

 for family farmers. In general, such conditions would only produce extremely 

 limited sales, generally between neighbors. 



We believe that these type of neighbor to neighbor sales will take place 

 regardless of restrictions put in place by either UPOV or the PVPA. It seems 

 pointless to pass legislation that will force farmers to violate the law. 



AFBF believes that inclusion in the PVPA of an automatic licensing 

 provision for incidental sales would adequately protect farmers who need to sell 

 small amounts of seed. We believe such a provision would be legal under UPOV. 

 AFBF would also support the requirement that farmers notify the seed company of 

 their intention to make an incidental sale in order to receive the automatic 

 license. Farmers not making a notification to the seed company would be in 

 violation of PVPA for any sales of protected varieties. Those persons controlling a 

 protected variety would have knowledge of the extent of incidental sales of these 

 varieties. 



We suggest the following language as a substitute for the deleted portion of 

 § 113 (7 U.S.C. 2543): 



Provided, that automatic licensing shall be granted by the owner, 

 upon request by the farmer, for the incidental sale of such saved seed (not 

 to exceed 10 percent of production), provided such sale is in compliance and 

 that the owner is notified of such sale. 



There may be other ways to define incidental sales, and we would consider 

 those ideas. Farm Bureau does believe that the individual farmers we seek to 

 protect through a "save and sell incidental amounts" provision are not the farmers 

 who have benefitted by the vagueness of the current "farmer exemption." A 

 balanced approach can end extensive "brown bagging" while preserving farmer 

 options. 



Farmers who grow protected varieties of seed for breeders or seed 

 companies should be protected in the event that the contracting party does not 

 abide by the terms of the contract. Farm Bureau would support amendments to 



