Much of attention on genetically modified food patents has focused on soybeans and corn. In an interesting study, UGA law professor Paul Heald and anthropology professor Susannah Chapman focus on patents covering vegetables (excluding corn, soybeans, and canola) as well as their commercialization rates. Their study covers both plant variety protection certificates and utility patents for 42 vegetable varieties. They find that - for the most part - patents have not had a large impact on the vegetable market. They highlight their findings as follows:
- Only 3.8% of varieties available in 2004 were ever subject to protection under patent law or the Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA);
- More than 16% of all vegetable varieties that have ever been patented were commercially available in 2004; and
- In 2004, approximately 4.5% of protected, or once protected, varieties consisted of inventions that were at least twenty years old.
Read the paper here.
In an earlier paper, the pair showed that vegetable crop diversity increased in the past century -- a finding that cuts against conventional wisdom in the field. Read that paper here.
