Always innovating: The main industrial potato variety in Argentina is beginning to be planted informally

Published 2024년 10월 1일

Tridge summary

The Seed Congress of the Americas was held at the Hilton Hotel in Puerto Madero, with a focus on discussing the protection of property rights in seeds. Meanwhile, a significant conflict has arisen in Argentina regarding the Dutch company HZPC's industrial potato variety, Innovator, used in the production of frozen French fries by McCain. This conflict stems from HZPC's request for a three-year royalty contract for this variety, contrasted with seed companies' refusal to pay after the variety's registration expires in 2024. The National Seed Institute considered declaring the variety for "restricted public use" but ultimately did not due to embassy warnings and potential international embarrassment. This situation, occurring against a backdrop of broader discussions on seed technology rights and investment recovery for breeders, has created a critical and uncertain situation for potato producers and companies, especially with planting season approaching and McCain's supply requirements.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

This Monday, at the charming Hilton Hotel in Puerto Madero, the Seed Congress of the Americas began its sessions. The deliberations, which will last several days, were opened by the Secretary of Agriculture, Sergio Iraeta, who with a certain lack of oratory welcomed the foreign visitors and told them that since the new government of Javier Milei, Argentina is trying to “sort out” its many pending issues. The legislation on the protection of property rights in seeds is one of them. While this was happening in Buenos Aires, in the potato area in the south of the province of Buenos Aires, many producers were preparing to plant - in broad daylight and without any remorse - a variety of industrial potato without acknowledging the payment of royalties to the company that produced it, the Dutch HZPC, which is the world leader in research on the most consumed tuber globally. Bichos de Campo has already reported on this conflict, which shows, like few others, the level of negligence with ...

Source: Bichos de campo