Good intentions and plead ignorance has always been my philosophy
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Patents are a matter of public record. If a plant has a current patent that info is supposed to be on the plant tag from the nursery AND the actual patent will be viewable and readable online. If there is a gene patented that will be specified in writing. Some very old patents are not viewable online, but they don’t matter because they’re long expired.
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The article you posted does bring up questions. They talked about does bring up some questions. My first question is should a patent holder be able to limit sales? The patent holders of cosmic crisp limit sale to only Washington which is super restrictive. Only those in 1 out of 50 states can grow it even though the tree is sold online. It is ironic but the patent is limiting the cosmic crisp apple success. No one wants to buy the apples in stores because it is so expensive to get but no one can buy the trees but Washington people. Also should a non profit truly be able to act like a business and charge heavily for a product. We are already giving tax payer money and the college is already charging out the wazzoo for students going there. The university creating plant cultivars are not exactly short on money.
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Yes I don’t really have a dog in the fight so to speak I have my path carved out already. I’m aware of corporate farming practices because I’m farming for a business as well for many years now. All my life even before kindergarten i grew things. There is a value in growing gmo for a place like Mars. Wish they did all testing inside. Once they have gmo apples that can produce in sub zero temperatures they can grow fruit in space that’s pretty exciting. Callery pears are doing a better job of growing in adverse conditions in my opinion than any other rootstock. Imagine if they gmo it for space. Gmo Callery rootstocks on Mars would be great. It sounds sometimes like I’m down on science at times but I’m not. There is responsibility that goes with science and i dont think corporate farms should pick on smaller farms. In addition these companies must be responsible with their impact on humans. We are moving in the right direction I think but I’m glad the past events will not be repeated. Another words if keeping things non gmo works why not continue doing what works rather than harm our food supply. Growing food using gmo indoors or in a remote part of the desert or Antarctica sounds like a good test. We could do that rather than use our good farm grounds what does that prove for gmo? Organic growers have rights as well.
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People want to go to Mars but that is super distant into the future. I remember watching a video on it and there is just too much that gets in the way given our current technology. That is why the date to go to mars keeps on going back.
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Very true gmo is not ready for starters. My callery pear rootstocks made by nature are great but gmo is not that great yet. As an example round up ready soybeans don’t work anymore as well because some weeds have grown immune they are adapting. A fundamental concept in life is to do no harm to fellow human beings in wht we do. Glysophate doesn’t kill those resistant weeds. Now there are claims glysophate harms humans after we used it for years. Our planet has a series of checks and balances. There is a price everytime people attempt to outsmart nature. We are not as advanced as people would have us believe. We have learned a great deal by science but there is much we don’t know. If one gmo apple gets its pollen into our breeding programs it contaminates everything and my many years of work growing non gmo apples will be messed up New Apple Seedling Varieties. Thankfully Kansas is not an apple growing state.
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Eh it is nice being in a state that can grow apples and pears. They are one of the longest lived fruit trees that many cultivate. Plus they store super well. I have read Cascade pear can store upwards of 4 months and certain apples can store up to something like a year. If you are like me where your goal is not just growing super yummy fruit but also grow something that stores well and will help eliminate the store apples and pears are a must.
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The answer is no.
You can breed with patented varieties, but evil companies like Monsanto decided top sue of GMO’s so they scared everyone off of breeding, and especially speed them from suing GMO farmers for contaminating their crops with GMO pollen.
In the end, GMO farming had to sue people for “stealing” their pollen, or be sued for destroying organic crops.
So yes you can breed with patented breeds, although don’t do it with GMO’s not only because you’ll be sued, but you’ll cause or get cancer too.
But be careful about using the trademark name too, that might be a different issues, you may be able to breed and sell a “Cripp’s Pink x Wickson” but you probably can’t call it a “Pink Lady x Wickson”. I’m not sure on this, but my general legal knowledge tells me toss is a point of caution at least.
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True.
Questionable.
No, it’s not questionable; you’re not allowed to question it.
If you question it you’ll get censored, lose your job, get death threats, and maybe get killed.
Research the events yourself.
It happened.
New York times said Ukraine was full of NAZIs in 2018 now they say the opposite.
CNN and White House said Covid vaccines stop transmission, now everyone says the opposite.
Fox news said Biden won, Tucker Carlson said the opposite.
Can you name a “reliable” news organization?
Enough politics, it is not allowed here. Thanks.
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Knowing that apples don’t breed true to seed makes it questionable as to why you would even bother.
Patented fruit trees take many thousands of tries and often a decade or more to come up with a viable commercial product at least.
I wouldn’t even think of trying to grow a seedling to maturity for any fruit that doesn’t breed true as to me it would likely not yield an enjoyable fruit anyway.
At least that is what I’ve read about how it works.
Of course I’m never going to sell anything I grow so I’m not upsetting the apple cart (yes, pun intended) anyway.
I admit to finding little enticement to breed with Club apples or highly touted cvs. still under patent. If it ever came up (& I have yet to try apple breeding) I might dodge & weave with the simple approach: “Golden Delicious OP” as in “open pollinated”. Many older cultivars bred at research stations across the globe were described in just that way.
What I don’t understand is why anyone would breed with Honeycrisp (no longer under patent), for instance, when Duchess of Oldenburg is listed on both the pollen and seed parent lines. You want that breaking flesh? Do one better than had U. of MN by including D/O in your breeding line up and come up with a tastier apple & thrifty tree.
If I were to breed apples, I would want some of the strengths of, say, GoldRush (marvelous easy care tree in my neck of the woods) and the size & high flavor of Spokane Beauty. SB is a tip bearer only, if I understand the literature correctly, but that can be sorted among the resultant seedlings.
For an early season apple, I would try crossing Lamb Abbey and Maiden Blush, and both of these to Twenty Ounce. Maybe Otterson for its red flesh and all three of the above. Now that would be a project worth pursuing!
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If I had land and more years to live I’d play with cross pollination some. I mean part of what I enjoy about fishing is never knowing what the next cast might bring.
I’d perhaps name my new wonderful apple variety OP-OP-OP-OP Open Pollinated Style and hire Psy for the advertising.
Oooooohhhh Sexy Apple… OP OP OP OP, Open Pollinated Style…
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I’d need a LOT of land for it to be worth it to me to play with breeding apples. But i think it would be fun. Anecdotally, a decent fraction of random seedlings are nice to eat, it’s just that it’s incredibly rare for one to hit all the marks that a commercial apple needs to hit. And even rarer to get one that’s enough better than what’s already available to be worth marketing it.
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Yeah after my post I thought of how I worded it. I. Certainly there should be some edible fruit…and as you state, what breeders look for is quite a ways beyond what backyard gardeners would perhaps be happy with.
It remains, however, pretty daunting when you hear of the numbers of tries folks like Zaiger go through for the end result. With quoted numbers easily in the thousands if not over 10,000 tries for one marketable new variety…
You could not possibly be more wrong.
You plant more apple seeds to get more apple trees with good but different apples.
It does NOT take thousands of tries to come up with a good apple seedling. It takes only a few tries if you use good parents.
Patenting is a commercial business decision that impacts marketing and sales of a tree. It is not equivalent to producing the best quality of any fruit.
You clearly have not heard of Steven Edholm, a member of this group, better known as Skillcult. He has produced many good seedling apples and is constantly reminding people that it is not hard to do so. Here’s one of his many videos.
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Perhaps I’ve been exposed to a bit of marketing then from the folks with patented trees.
Still I don’t have the room to try so I’m stuck with what I can buy regardless of who produced it and how much work it took to do so.
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