29 



Therefore, AASCO strongly supports the proposed amendments 

 to the Plant Variety Protection Act be applicable to all protected 

 varieties, irrespective of the date protection was received. 



Again, thank you for allowing me to testify on behalf of AASCO 

 on this very important piece of legislation covering seed labeling. 

 Copies of my testimony have been provided to all members and I 

 will be pleased to answer any questions from the subcommittee. 



Senator Kerrey. Thank you, Mr. Svik. Your entire testimony 

 will be a part of the record. 



I am going to ask the remaining five witnesses to all come up 

 and offer their testimony and then we can perhaps have a discus- 

 sion of the bill more clearly that way. 



Dr. David Douches, Research Geneticist and Potato Breeder, rep- 

 resenting the National Potato Council; Dr. Robert Barnes, Execu- 

 tive Vice President of the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop 

 Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America 

 from Madison, Wisconsin; Mr. Bryce Neidig, President of the Ne- 

 braska Farm Bureau; Ms. Becky Winterboer, a farmer from Mil- 

 ford, Iowa; and Ms. Hope Shand, Research Director of the Rural 

 Advancement Foundation International from Pittsboro, North 

 Carolina. 



Dr. Douches, if you would give your testimony next, please. 



STATEMENT OF DAVID S. DOUCHES, RESEARCH GENETICIST AND 

 POTATO BREEDER, REPRESENTING NATIONAL POTATO COUN- 

 CIL, DEPARTMENT OF CROP AND SOIL SCIENCES, MICHIGAN 

 STATE UNIVERSITY, EAST LANSING, MI 



Mr. Douches. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. 



My name is Dr. David Douches and I am a research geneticist 

 and potato breeder at Michigan State University, East Lansing, 

 Michigan. I would request that my full testimony be included for 

 the record. 



Senator Kerrey. It will be included. 



Mr. Douches. Today I am testifying on behalf of the National 

 Potato Council, which is the only trade association representing 

 10,500 commercial potato growers in 50 States. The Potato Associa- 

 tion of America also supports my testimony, and I ask that a letter 

 from its president, T. Richard Tarn, be included in the record. 



Senator Kerrey. Without objection, it will be included. 



[The letter appears in the Appendix.] 



Mr. Douches. Thank you. 



The question we ask in general is why do we need to have the 

 most important vegetable crop, like the potato, included in the 

 Plant Variety Protection Act. 



First of all, we have seen Canada institute plant breeders' rights 

 upon potato cultivars in a form similar to the UPOV Convention 

 and also recommend that the United States have a similar form of 

 protection to unify North American intellectual property rights for 

 this crop. The equivalent form of protection in the United States is 

 the Plant Variety Protection Act. A common form of protection for 

 potatoes among UPOV countries allows the United States to com- 

 pete in a global market. 



73-025 0-93-2 



