AUSTRALIAN Crop Breeders members will this month be commencing audits of growers suspected of intentionally avoiding payment of end-point royalties (EPRs) on seed varieties.
“Unfortunately there continues to be disappointing attempts by some growers to avoid paying EPR, thereby receiving the benefit of varietal improvement but leaving their neighbours to pay for it,” ACB board member and AGT chief executive officer and head of breeding Haydn Kuchel said.
“Consequently, some ACB breeder members are about to begin actively auditing growers they suspect of benefiting without contributing,” Dr Kuchel said.
An overhaul of the Annual Harvest Declaration can be expected with the new system in place as early as the 2024-25 harvest.
Grain Producers Australia (GPA) is one of those groups ACB has met with, and said in a statement it was in the process of reviewing its EPR policy via a discussion paper to members.
GPA said it supported EPRs as the most equitable method of collecting a royalty on a new variety.
However, GPA believes that in order to ensure continued grower support for EPR collection, payment should be cost effective and collected at the first point of sale.