North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ribes60@aol.com]

 

 

This is a response to Herons message of 2/17/06

 

I agree with most of what Heron wrote, I admit that I did not fully understand all of it. I think that I, and probably most of the participants of this group agree the basic premise is true and that few of us would avoid paying the royalty for the use of new selections. That said, I am not willing to buy, in the beginning, all the trees that I might want to grow. There a several reasons for this, I want to see how this selection performs here, I may want to change the rootstock and since taste is a very subjective characteristic, I want to know how it suits me and my use. I have never seen a catalog presentation that said “this is a mediocre selection but you may like it”. The description always says that this is the greatest. Some catalog offerings indicate that the selection is a patented variety, but says nothing about any restrictions regarding propagation. The “patented” is more often a sales pitch that implies that this is a very good selection and you should have it.

 

If I decide that I want to grow more of this selection, I would rather graft it onto rootstocks of my choice and number and send “X” number of dollars to the researcher or breeder that produced the selection, not to the propagator who expanded the selection. The royalty should go to the breeder and if sent to anyone else, I doubt that it would get where it should go.

 

I suspect that many of you on this list would send “X” number of dollars to the breeder if you knew how or where to send it. We are much more cognizant of what it takes to produce a new selection. Most of the consumers that buy these plants do not have a clue what that “Patent” means.

 

NAFEX and other groups and providers of rootstocks are in a position to help breeders recover fees that are due to them if, we as a group or organization, knew the best way to send these funds to the breeder. We often run workshops teaching budding and grafting and other forms of propagation, therefore we should be able to also teach a bit of ethics and how to compensate the breeders. This should be a part of every grafting workshop and of every extension office in the country.

 

I am not opposed to paying the fees, I just need to know who to pay them to.

 

 

 

 

Ed Mashburn
Central PA
Zone 5A