Royalty bills crackdown…
Royalty bills crackdown…
By Charles Abel
GROWERS who have failed to pay royalty on farm-saved seed are being pursued by government officials and could face fines running into thousands of £s.
In a move initiated by the British Society of Plant Breeders the target for attention is growers who registered as farm-saved seed users in previous years, but who have not returned declarations for the past season.
"There is a pretty large group of farmers which DEFRA lawyers have written to, pointing out their offence and that they are being pursued," says BSPB board member Tony Guthrie of Advanta Seeds.
If caught such growers face a fine of up to three times the full royalty rate on the seed they saved over the past three years, plus legal costs. The full royalty rate is typically double the farm-saved rate.
Growers submitting declarations direct tend to be the 10-12% of larger farms processing their own seed, says the BSPB.
DEFRA officials have pointed out that it is an offence under the Plant Breeders Rights (Farm Saved Seed) Regulations 1998 to intentionally fail to provide information, refuse to provide information or knowingly or recklessly provide false information on the use of farm-saved seed.
As part of a deal struck on farm-saved royalty rates the BSPB has also secured the co-operation of the NFU in its drive to identify other non-payers. "It is going to become increasingly difficult for growers who have never paid to remain anonymous," says Paul Canham of Nickerson Seeds.
The drive is prompted by a big rise in farm-saving over recent years, with an estimated 46% of winter wheat seed farm-saved last year. With only half the certified royalty rate payable on farm-saved seed breeders incomes have slumped from £23m five years ago to £20m last year. Cost inflation means the income shortfall is still greater in real terms.
To reflect the increase in home saving the farm-saved royalty rates for most crops have risen for the coming season. But with NFU negotiation the rises are not as great as legislation allows, notes Mr Guthrie.
The rules permit a 2% lift in royalty for each 1% increase in farm-saving, on a three-year rolling average basis. With farm- saved seed usage rising to 46% in winter wheat last year the royalty could have jumped 18% to almost £34/t. Instead the rise has been pegged at 6.7%, giving a payment rate of £30.60/t.
For other crops, such as peas and oilseed rape, rates have reduced as growers move to lower royalty varieties. For beans the rate has been dropped to encourage greater declaration amongst growers, many of whom use untreated seed and so do not have royalty collected by a processor.
In general the collection scheme continues to work well, Mr Guthrie stresses, with just 7p in the £ lost to administration costs, compared with over 30p in Germany, for example. *
Farm-saved seed royalties (£/t)
2001/2 2000/1 Change
Wheat 30.60 28.69 +6.7%
W barley 27.42 25.26 +8.6%
S barley 33.75 30.29 +11.4%
Oats 25.70 24.15 +6.4%
Peas 24.44 26.82 -8.9%
Beans 34.69 35.58 -2.5%
Oilseed rape 1360 1381 -1.5%
Linseed 146.32 146.32 =
Triticale 44.03 n/a n/a
Farm-saved seed
royalties (£/t)
2001/2 2000/1 Change
Wheat 30.60 28.69 +6.7%
W barley 27.42 25.26 +8.6%
S barley 33.75 30.29 +11.4%
Oats 25.70 24.15 +6.4%
Peas 24.44 26.82 -8.9%
Beans 34.69 35.58 -2.5%
OSR 1360 1381 -1.5%
Linseed 146.32 146.32 =
Triticale 44.03 n/a n/a