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Adapting old vegetable varieties to new modern production conditions
18 Nov 19
Adapting old vegetable varieties to new modern production conditions
Writtern by contributeur
For oldvarietiesknownbefore 1970 mainly of cross-pollinatedspecies, Directive 2002/55/EC and the previous Directive of 1970 on the marketing of vegetableseeds have made it possible for more than 40 years to breedwithinthesevarietieswith a fairlybroaddefinition, a subsetbased on one or more criteria and to disseminatethemaccording to specificmethods.
This is how marketgardeners can choosevarietiessuch as the carrot "Nantaise améliorée 2 - Tip Top" or the beetroot "Détroit 2 - Drako" or the plain endive "Grosse Bouclée 2 - Stratego". From the example of the carrot, itisunderstoodthat the subsetcalled "Tip Top" has been bred within the oldvariety "Nantaise améliorée 2".
In regulatoryterms, EU legislationrefers to thesesubsets of an oldvarietyknownbefore 01/07/1970 as "conservative breeds". French legislation has defined a more precisename for these "conservative breeds" through "races". As itis a subset of a variety, a race (French wording) cannotbe the subject of a Plant Variety Right.
This line of breedingrecognised by European and French legislationsthusallowstheseoldvarieties of vegetableswithstrongheritage and use values (to whichmanyvegetableproducers and hobby gardeners are attached to)to adapt to contemporary agriculturalmethods. They can bebred by massalbreedingwhileremainingwithin the identitytypology of the oldvariety. This internalbreedingcan focus on resistance to bolting, fasterhead production, lesssensitivity to certain physiologicalimbalances ("black ass" in tomatoes,...), etc.
Concerning the regulatory management of these races, the following points allowto balancethe operational maintenance needs of seedcompanies and a minimaldegree of information for authorities and stakeholders along the seedchain:
maintaining establishments must inform the CTPS / GEVES (i.e. the TechnicalSecretary) concerning the distribution of the breed(s) associatedwiththeir original oldvariety.
for a givenoldvariety, onlyseedcompaniesrecognised as official maintainers of the oldvariety of originmayregister and disseminate "races";consequently, the dissemination of one to several « races » per oldvariety by a seedcompanyissubject to the successfulcompletion of official maintenance controlsrelatingsolely to the oldvariety of origin,
intechnicalterms, a "maintenance breeding" or "race" must remain in conformitywith the description of the original variety; itmaydifferslightlyfromit, but remainwithin the scope of the varietydefinition, which the CTPS Section has transcribed as "remain in conformityduring a variety control",
itispermitted to mention on the seed label such a maintenance or breed by indicating the name of the oldvariety of origin as well as the name of the race sothat the name of the race is not more visible than the name of the variety of origin.
A list of races by oldvarietyisupdated by the CTPS on the basis of declarationsfromseedcompaniesrecognised as official maintainers.
Eachseedcompanyisinvited to communicate to the TechnicalSecretary of the CTPS Vegetables Section the races itdistributes as well as theirvariety of origin.
Establishments are thus free to distribute as many races per oldvariety as theywish, providedthatthey have provided a seed lot of the oldvariety, whichcomplieswith the standard kept at GEVES.
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