Price of Being a Breeder Organization Hamdi Çiftçiler MAY Seed / Deputy Chairman of Board of Management

As MAY Seed we have been investing in plant breeding since 1996

As of 2013 we have 31 permanent personnel in our R&D Department.

These personnel are either Agricultural Engineer and/or Molecular Biologist where 4 of them have got doctorate degree, 5 of them got graduate degree, 15 of them undergraduate degree

and as of year 2013 we spend about 6 million TL for “Conventional and Molecular Breeding”.

In the EU, Balkans, Black Sea, Middle East, Central Asia and African Countries which we have identified as target geography, we have more than 160 varieties registered and/or taken under protection or within continuing the process

We pay special attention to our breeders to work within a system and property concept of innovations emerging having been defined explicitly.

We are grateful to the supports like TÜBİTAK, R&D tax exemptions provided by our state for the activities of R&D/BREEDING centered in our country

We request that these supports are developed as to be more privileged and include the grant through effective inspection of real breeding organizations

We would like to emphasize once more the importance of interpreting private domestic breeding organizations as a subunit of TAGEM and placing them in a privileged position.

But in meanwhile it is a costly process which requires significant financial resource and committment. Breeding is independenc e

Under today’s global competition conditions it is very important to establish a sustainable institutional structure.

CURRENT Legislation (UPOV 1991) Breeder Exemption

We are following with sensitivity the issue of obeying to all exemptions and conditions in UPOV 1991 convention to which our country is also a party.

In relation to this we pay special attention to the following; To be an establishment which unconditionally respects to national and international agreements signed mutually including all kinds of industrial property approaches, To enable transfer of all kinds of material mutually only through MTAs and effectively following the process up and reporting them

Exchanging of results accurately and timely, Issues to be considered in registration, Defining the way for our breeders to benefit from research activities conducted within our company and ensure their continous development

Additionally; We closely follow discussions of ISF on “Idea of Industrial Property”, evaluations of industrial property /patent persisting within the scope of “Seed Technology in the World” and debates on this issue between Europe and the USA and we perform detailed studies on appropriate positioning and developing policies in line with our interests.

Importance of Industrial Property in terms of Company Value

Protection and registering of emerging lines and hybrids in the most accurate way in domestic/foreign markets which we see as a target market, Touching upon our industrial property rights and securing them in all types of agreements of transfer of licenses, varities, etc. made in the country and abroad

Interpreting common variety development activities in the country and in abroad also within the scope of industrial property concept, In order to have our advantages sustainable in terms of our specific and strong characteristics we specially care for the issues regarding industrial property rights to be fulfilled.

Hamdi Çiftçiler MAY Seed/ Deputy Chairman of Board of Management