Industry Representation

Improved crop varieties provide the seed corn for the UK’s £90bn food production chain. The economic benefits of plant breeding range from increased productivity at farm level through to import substitution, export earnings and enhanced processing quality within the food and drink manufacturing sector. Plant breeding for improved resource efficiency, resistance to disease and resilience to climate change helps to reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment and benefit the economy by lowering the costs of alternative mitigation/adaptation strategies.

New varieties are delivered through innovation by commercial plant breeders. Their success depends on them being able to operate in an enabling regulatory framework in which there is appropriate reward for innovation supported with effective powers of IP enforcement and adequate and appropriately targeted public funding for relevant R & D. BSPB works to achieve this for its members by promoting the understanding of the science and business of plant breeding and representing its members’ interests with regulators, policy makers, research funders and other industry organisations.

BSPB is a member of the European Seed Association (ESA), the International Seed Federation (ISF), the Intellectual Property Awareness Network (IPAN), the UK Plant Sciences Federation (UKPSF) and a sponsor of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Science & Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA).