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RAFI-USA 



Rural Advancement Foundation International- USA 



101 HilUnco Sc, Rn 5 • PO. Box 655 • Piraboro. NC 27J12 •919-542-1396 • E-nuiL EcoNetraimsa • FAX; 919-542-2460 

 RO. Box 727 . MniUw, SC 29662 •«» -297-8562 • E-mail: EcoNecratnc* FAX: 805-297-0216 



Testimony of 

 HopeJ.Shand 



Rural Advancement Foundation International - USA 



BekmtheUAHoaaeotBefnma iiiiiiv m 



Committee on Agriculture 



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May 24, 1964 

 HJL2927, Plant Variety Protection Act Amendments 



My name is Hope Shand. I am Research Director of the Rural 

 Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI), based in Pittsboro, North 

 Carolina. RAFI is a private, non-profit organization that is dedicated to the 

 preservation of family farms, the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural 

 biodiversity, and the socially responsible use of new technologies. RAFI has a long 

 history of work on the problem of the loss of genetic diversity in agriculture, and 

 we are increasingly concerned about the impact of plant intellectual property 

 rights on U.S. agriculture and world food security. 



The Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) is the U.S. version of patent-like 

 laws that are known internationally as "plant breeders' rights." As an alternative 

 to the industrial patent system, the PVPA was established to provide breeders 

 with limited monopoly rights over the production, marketing and sale of new, 

 sexually reproduced plant varieties (such as soybeans, wheat, cotton and canola) 

 for 18 years. 



Proposed amendments to the PVPA would make the U.S. law conform with 

 plant breeders' rights laws internationally, coordinated by the Union for the 

 Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) headquartered in Geneva. The 

 UPOV Convention governs the rules for granting of plant breeders' rights 

 internationally, offering reciprocal protection for member states. 



RAFI believes that the newly revised UPOV treaty (which the U.S. has 

 signed, but not ratified), substantially strengthens the rights of plant breeders, at 

 the expense of farmers. We question the need to amend the PVPA to conform with 

 the 1991 UPOV Convention, and we urge members of Congress to consider the 

 broader social and economic impacts of plant intellectual property rights on 

 farmers, the future of U.S. agriculture and world food security. RAFI's specific 

 concerns are outlined below. 



RAFI-USA is a non-profit, tai -exempt organization no longer affiliated with the Rural Advancement Fund/Naoonal Sharecroppers Fund. 



