one success story in Australia's fruit industry. It's all due to breeding, including a 25-year breeding program run through Victorian Government research fields, and funded by growers. But only a fraction of varieties are bred in Australia. The rest of the plant varieties come from breeding programs in the United States, and a legal stoush over intellectual property rights is threatening that supply.Through Horticulture Australia Limited, those levies are matched by the Federal Government for research which until recently was conducted by the Victorian Department. "The (State) Government in its wisdom decided to pull the plug, so that particular project had to be funded by Strawberries Australia."
"Strawberries Australia had to find the money that normally would be paid by the Department of Primary Industries in Victoria. For that we had to find our own farm, employ the staff from DPI, and that project has proved to be incredibly successful.
We've set up a farm in Wandin Victoria, but currently Australian varieties only account for 10 per cent available to the Australian consumer."
The varieties arrive as germ-plasm from the four runner growers in either Florida; for the warm climate fruit for Queensland and northern Western Australian conditions, and California; for the southern varieties grown in Victoria, southern Western Australia and Tasmania. The varieties include Camino Real, Chandler and Albion, all suitable for Mediterranean climates.
Len O'Connor, of Strawberries Australia, has just received worrying news, that there are legal implications with the southern research hubs in California, at University Campus Davis, where the research leaders have decided to take their intellectual property rights with them.
"There's now legal action pending between the Southern California University and these two breeders who've retired from the University and taking the thing on themselves, which means the strawberry growers have no idea where they're going to get new varieties from, whether it's the private researchers or the University."
