Seeding Benefits
Plant breeding is all about generating biodiversity. All plant breeding starts with the breeder bringing together desirable characters in new combinations of diverse plant populations and selecting the varieties that are best suited to our needs for food, feed, fuel and fibre. Sometimes plant breeders look to the wild or in gene banks for plants with attributes that they want to bring to their varieties, perhaps for pest and disease resistance, nutritional content or flavour. When they do this, in order to protect and promote biodiversity, breeders share in the benefits.
How do plant breeders share benefits?
Benefit sharing can take many forms: it can be mandatory or voluntary; it can be in the form of money or through activities that benefit stakeholders. Benefit sharing is not new; plant breeders have been sharing benefits for many years as part of their day-to-day business. This work makes a real difference in practice but is often unacknowledged in the global discussion about genetic resources and benefit sharing.
