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Japan bans removal of prized agricultural seeds, seedlings abroad

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Japanese govt. complaining about the grapes being grown abroad? The Muscat grape? Oh, the irony......

15 ( +20 / -5 )

Understandable. What's ridiculous is how overpriced the fruits in Japan are. Japan has to protect the price, otherwise, they can never justify why a $1 melon would cost 10,000JPY in Japan.

14 ( +18 / -4 )

That horse bolted long ago and now the tumbleweed blows through the stables.

Still, the stable doors will look tidier shut and padlocked, rather than banging in the wind.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

Just put the seeds in an envelope without remittent and send them out.

What can go wrong?

10 ( +13 / -3 )

With grapes, presumably it is a cutting (i.e., a clone), which will be grafted onto whatever rootstock suits the new growing environment. It won't be a seed or a seedling. Many fruit do not grow true to seed, and that is before you add in the massive amount of hybridization going on here.

Banning cultivation elsewhere kind of suggests that the cultivation Japanese farmers are doing in Japan is not noticeably better than the cultivation other farmers would do elsewhere. You can't praise the TLC given to Japanese grapes to the skies if customers would still buy the same fruit grown in China.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Imagine how much a 1000yen grape would cost when you smack a load of import tax on it.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Given the current state of things, I think growing better food in more places is a good thing. It's hard to say who has the right in some cases tho.

Take Kyushu's beloved "decopon" orange - it's a hybrid including the navel orange which is not native to Japan. Is Japan going to give back all the produce it imported to cultivate locally?

8 ( +10 / -2 )

@marcelito right???

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I notice a lot of the seeds I plant in my garden the seeds are usually IMPORTED......

I also notice a lot of Kiwi being grown....gee I wonder where those came from!!! Rinse & repeat

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The seed is itself an export product. Banning export will put companies off producing it. Other nations will implement similar laws and Japan will be unable to import more disease and weather resistant varieties.

There are plenty of global rules governing plant-breeder's rights. Complete bans are Trump-style idiocy.

Global hunger would be 100x what it is if the colonial empires of the 18th and 19th centuries had not moved agriculturally valuable seeds and plants around the world.

Given that Ghosn smuggled himself out in a large box, I'm not convinced that this is enforceable. However, news of the law passing will publicise the financial potential of agrosmuggling.

Another example of creeping nationalism promoting the needs of the few over the needs of the many.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The seed is itself an export product. Banning export will put companies off producing it. Other nations will implement similar laws and Japan will be unable to import more disease and weather resistant varieties.

You're missing the point. Some "priced" seeds will be licensed and protected from patent breach under the new regulation. You're free to bring a seed overseas so long as you purchase it through an official channel.

The target products are expected to constitute only 10% or less of the entire agriproducts in Japan; means, vast majority and their seeds remain "generic" for free use and trade. The new regulation is unlikely to distort the whole market.

The protection cause via licensing is valid and practiced in many other free and advanced economies, most cases are led by private enterprises. It may also help promote to innovation as farmers are encouraged to invest in product development for the sake of patent rights guaranteed.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Ordinary seeds are no problem to send anywhere, but such special/unique seeds they developed should be banned to send overseas without permission. These seeds really make a lot of money. It is one of intellectual property rights. I think these seeds are strictly managed at farm laboratory all the time. I just wonder how these seeds go out of there!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Japan is a signatory of UPOV91 and so is South Korea and China. A strong legal case can be filed against any illegal plant use in South Korea but China is likely to flaunt UPOV91 rules as is FSU . There are rumors of mysterious seed sales of grains to clients in the FSU.

Here is an interesting read: https://www.upov.int/export/sites/upov/meetings/en/2016/enforcement_seminar_viet_nam/12_japan_yamaguchi.pdf

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So strawberries, melons, cherries and a whole host of fruit and vegetables were native to Japan? They must have been imported to Japan once in the past. The same with cows. Even rice!

Does anyone remember when they wanted to copyright curry in Japan? If I were Indian or Thai, I would have been furious (they make the best curries in the world - and they do it without resorting to lard or palm fat).

1 ( +2 / -1 )

As long as the new laws are consistent with with long-standing legal obligations under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. After all, the rights of farmers under international law IS important.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The policy is encouraging to Japanese aspiring farmers and agribusinesses.

Japanese govt. complaining about the grapes being grown abroad? The Muscat grape? Oh, the irony......

Seeds have been stolen from Japanese farmers. It's a patent breach and economic crime. Like pharmaceutical businesses, it initially costs lot of money to develop a new brand.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says China and South Korea have cultivated the Shine Muscat grapes and exported them to Southeast Asia and other areas.

Here again perpetrators who are very expected, not surprising.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Bloody hell Pacific or is it what we have become all over despite all the technical advantages.

copycats and hackers all around.

Not love and peace anymore.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hummm not sure about this one, Japan must have forgotten where these developed seeds first came from!?

Native to Japan? I don't think so, soon we will see court filings by the seeds native owners.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Whether it be matsusaka beef or uonuma koshihikari rice or akihime strawberries, completely understand the criticality of such creations of the highest grade after decades and centuries of breed improvement to be legally protected, both the names and the seeds.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Who cares about whether other countries are growing fruit from seeds that have been exported out of the country, when a large percentage of the population in Japan won't be getting the Covid vaccine till god knows when!

This hopeless government need to get their priorities right!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Muscat grape originally comes from mediterranean zone.

Great example of "Japanese Intellectual Property". Looks like hi-tech in the 70's : copy, modify and claim your own.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

proxy:

@GW Believe it or not but "kiwi" or more correctly "Chinese Gooseberry" or "onimatatabi" are actually native to Japan.

No it's not. It is native to China. (I wonder why it's also called Chinese gooseberry)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Pukey2

"Chinese Gooseberry" is native to China, Onimatatabi is native to Japan. Same genus; Actinidia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinidia

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@gakinotsukai I hope those folks in the Mediterranean Zone don't have any IP tomato varieties.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Worried about Muscat grapes? Why? They make sub-standard wine and need to be blended, unless you've got a real nose for manure.

Silliness beyond the inane. Just like the cost of produce in Japan. I often wonder what a Japanese person would pay me for one of the heritage tomatoes I grow, here in Victoria. An obscene price, no doubt. But, I'm happier giving them to my neighbours, for nothing.

And as for grapes - buy them by the 15-kilo box from California, like I do, and make really good Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Muscat??? Pffttt!!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@GW Believe it or not but "kiwi" or more correctly "Chinese Gooseberry" or "onimatatabi" are actually native to Japan.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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