1970 Plant Variety Protection Act

The Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970 was pivotal for the association and deserves its place in history for its impact on the industry. One option under the act allows seed to be sold by variety name only as a class of certified seed. What is now referred to as “PVP Title V” served to increase seed certification for a time. Approximately one-third of all PVP applications at the time specified the certified option. It is also important to note that the act was amended in 1994 to prohibit farmer-to-farmer sales of protected varieties. Much of the work on the amendment was done by University of Illinois Professor Walter O. Scott, along with Illinois Crop Improvement and the Illinois Seed Dealer’s Association. The idea of assessments started in the early 1970s and was adopted in Illinois in 1973. In what former association manager Jim Shearl called “an idea too good to ignore,” soybean and small grain research assessments followed what was being done in Indiana. A per-bushel assessment was authorized by the board of directors and approved by the membership. By 1975, a newly formed Research Committee voted to invest over $100,000 in five research projects proposed by the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station. At an assessment rate of 5 cents per bushel, this represented over 2 million bushels of certified seed being reinvested in research.