August 19, 2004

Research Fees Implemented on New NDSU Crop Varieties

North Dakota State University and the NDSU Research Foundation have implemented a research fee on all new NDSU crop varieties. “NDSU and NDSU/RF have an obligation to protect and manage intellectual property developed at NDSU including plant varieties,” according to Dale Zetocha, NDSU Technology Transfer/Research Foundation director.

Newly released varieties that will have research fees include: hard red spring wheat, durum wheat, barley, oat and flax. Research fees have been levied on all NDSU potato varieties since the early 1990s, on dry edible beans since 2001, and on one oat variety since 2002. Fees have been collected on all soybean varieties since 1995 at the request of the ND Soybean Council. Research fees are also levied on all corn inbred lines.
“Variety development is an important activity of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station,” says Ken Grafton, NDAES director. “With these fees, NDSU is looking forward and planning for maintenance and enhancement of its breeding programs over the long-term.”

“Commodity group support has been strong in the past, but they have limited resources,” Grafton says. “Also, State and Federal dollars for operational activities have decreased in real dollars during the last several years.”

The fees collected will be used to:

• Maintain or expand existing or new research efforts in variety development.
• Expand the screening and development of experimental lines.
• Support disease and pest resistance research related to variety development.
• Expand both the equipment and technical support staff for more production-related research.
• Identify unique traits or characteristics in varieties that may increase their value to the industry and producers.
• Maintain and/or expand off-season (winter) nurseries, reducing the time needed to develop new varieties.
• Ensure the long term viability of the NDSU breeding programs.
• Purchase, replace or maintain equipment used in some breeding programs.

The NDSU Research Foundation will contract with state-certifying agencies or crop improvement associations who have the capabilities to collect and remit the research fees. In states where there is no means to collect the fees, the Research Foundation will grant a non-exclusive license to individuals or explore contracting with other organizations or entities.

Per-bushel research fees for registered and certified class seed are 30 cents for hard red spring wheat and durum, 25 cents for barley, 20 cents for oats and 40 cents for flax. Existing fees are three percent of gross seed sales for potatoes, 50 cents per bushel for conventional soybeans, 42 cents per 50-pound-unit for transgenic soybeans and two dollars per hundredweight for dry edible beans. Corn inbred fees vary according to the percentage of the hybrid.

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Source: Ken Grafton, (701) 231-6693, k.grafton@ndsu.nodak.edu
Dale Zetocha, (701) 231-8931, dale.zetocha@ndsu.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu

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