A Plant
Introduction Program
for the Mid-Atlantic and beyond......
|
A Plant
Introduction Program |
|
|
Plant Introduction Program Committee Planning for the Future December 6-7, 2005 What is your dream?
Vision: Expanding opportunities for the Virginia green industry through the development and promotion of superior plants for Beautiful Gardens®. Mission: To strengthen the Virginia green industry through coordinated research, evaluation, production and marketing in order to increase the quality and diversity of ornamentals plants. Goals and Objectives Promotion of plants in 2007 Secure flow of germplasm into the program Beautiful Gardens will be a nationally recognized program Become financially sound Simple and clear focus with a plan for implementation Partners will feel interested and satisfied Will have plants in nurseries across the state Will have a supply of liner nurseries Beautiful Gardens® will be a nationally recognized by consumers Established program for developing new plants Will have contractual agreements with partners Have an effective organizational structure (who does what) Written guidelines for committee activities Committee members will be reflective of the green industry (representatives of all segments) Initiate and coordinate educational activities
Organizational Structure Note: in 2005, the VNAHRF Inc board was changed to 9 members on HRF board, 4 are on the BG Committee, starting out, and are Fred Duis, Jeff Miller, Greg Eaton, and Mark Weathington. Beautiful Garden® Board Representatives from each of the partner groups:
At-Large Board Members: Neal Beasley Don Hyatt Each group has at least one representative on the PIP Committee and 2-4 members at-large representing research, marketing, production, retail, wholesale, design, maintenance, landscape, education, (50% to have a quorum) Partner groups will nominate representatives to the committee. Board members will serve as committee chairs and the VNLA Vice President will serve as an ad hoc member. The Beautiful Gardens® will hold at least two meetings per year and as needed. A set of Bylaws will be written specifically for the Beautiful Gardens® Board, which will remain as a committee of the VNAHRF, Inc. Committees (Committees should report to the BG Board at least quarterly.)Plant Selection (see Germplasm Management Strategy by Rumen Conev) Facilities management: (Bill McCaleb – chair; committee members are the site managers of each of the test sites) design and maintenance of test sites, management of Master Gardeners, establishment of cultural practices, data collection/evaluation. The committee is made up of the site managers and/or Master Gardener coordinator.
Action items: Public Relations & Marketing: Rick Baker (chair), Neal Beasley, Karen Kelly, Doug Hensel
Administration and Finance: Fred Duis (chair), Mark Weathington, Greg Eaton, Jeff Miller
Funding Strategies Production: Dick Tyler, Judith Tyler, Barry Flinn, Butch Gaddy, Tscharner Watkins
Where do we go from here? Future meeting dates. January 11, 2006, 4-6 pm, MANTS, Baltimore Convention Center, Room 334 March 18, 2006, Committee reports due, at Virginia Tech with Michael Dirr meeting, Blacksburg Tuesday participants: Rich Johnson, Ruth Douglas, Dick Tyler, Judith Tyler, Neal Beasley, Greg Eaton, Greg Welbaum, David Tay, Karen Kelly, Fred Duis, Rumen Conev, Doug Hensel, Mark Weathington, Rick Baker, Butch Gaddy, Tscharner Watkins, Jeff Miller, Pam Gibson. Wednesday participants: Rich Johnson, Ruth Douglas, Dick Tyler, Judith Tyler, Neal Beasley, Greg Eaton, Greg Welbaum, David Tay, Karen Kelly, Fred Duis, Rumen Conev, Mark Weathington, Rick Baker, Lesley Sewell, Barry Flinn, Bill McCaleb, Jeff Miller, Pam Gibson.
GERMPLASM MANAGEMENT STRATEGY By Dr. Rumen Coney, Executive Director, Beautiful Gardens® Wintergreen, VA, December 6-7, 2005 I. POTENTIAL PLANT SOURCES 1. University breeding programs: high quality, low accessibility of unpatented material. Universities have Intellectual Properties authorities and commercialization mechanisms. They do not usually release for testing anything patentable. Potential: Accessing material which is not to be patented - "Second best", OR establishing a direct link between Beautiful Gardens and a University based breeding program. Contacts established. 2. Collections governed at federal level: USDA, ARS - NPGS/GRIN — novelty (CBD)? (a) National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) - NPGS is a cooperative effort by public State and Federal and private organizations to preserve the genetic diversity of plants. The NPGS aids the scientists and the need for genetic diversity by: acquiring crop germplasm, preserving crop germplasm, evaluating crop germplasm, documenting crop germplasm, distributing crop germplasm. (b) Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) — It is a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. Their web site provides germplasm information about plants, animals, microbes and invertebrates. • US National Arboretum, Washington. DC - The only Woody Landscape Plant Germplasm Repository • Ornamental Plant Germplasm, Center, Ohio SU, Columbus, OH The main repository of herbaceous ornamentals. Its goal is to conserve, assess and distribute herbaceous ornamental plant germplasm and to develop new techniques for conserving seed and clonally propagated germplasm. • North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station, Iowa SU, Ames, IA -- some ornamentals Note: the Plant Exchange Office, and the Plant Germplasm Quarantine Office are in Beltsville, MD 3. Commercial scale private breeders: high quality, low accessibility of unpatented material. 4. "Backyard breeders" higher accessibility, but low quality. 5. Not-for-profit collections (Arboreta, Parks, and Gardens) - ? 6. Plants in the wild: --USA - Plants found in nature ARE NOT patentable' --abroad (CBD*) 7. Private hobbyist and collectors ("plant nerds") -- excellent source of rare and unusual plants * Strictly speaking commercialization of plants acquired through foreign country explorations without adequate permission from the foreign government is ILLIGAL (see CBD – Convention on Biological Diversity). Because of this USDA can not acquire easily, if at all, foreign germplasm either. ®is usually used to indicate an unregistered trademark. It is an informal notification that there is a public claim as a trademark. 8. Plant Societies - they are one of the best possible sources of information for best plants to look for (preparation of "wish list"), but do not usually support own centralized collections. Societies could he a great source of information for plants with high likelihood of success in multi-site testing and with high potential marketability owned by their members. 9. Commercial sources -- Nurseries. Garden Centers, etc. ACTION PLAN: 1. Exploring the option for establishing a strong and direct link to a University Breeding Program - Administrative Committee, Start immediately; end by Mar 31, 2006; 2. Establishing an Advisory Committee as a support of Beautiful Gardens® Plant Selection Committee - Exec. Director and PIP Task force, by the end of Feb. 15, 2006; 3. Preparation of guidelines governing work flow, reporting procedures, plant selection criteria, content of the official plant list (incl. plant description) and coordination between members of the plant selection committee - Exec. Director, by end of Feb. 2006; 4. Establishing direct contacts with US National Arboretum, DC, and Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center, OH, thorough exploration of the woody and herbaceous germplasm available there. Preparing a "wish list", and filing germplasm requests - Exec. Director arid Plant Selection Committee (John Wise), by the end of Feb. 2006; 5. Preparing a letter to be circulated to a wide range of Parks. Arboreta, and Botanic Gardens for exploring the potential for collaboration donation/exchange of plants for testing in VA - Exec. Director and Plant Selection Committee (Mark Weathington) by the end of Feb. 2006; 6. Preparing a letter to be circulated among a wide range of Plant Societies exploring the potential of collaboration and requesting information of marketable plants owned their members -- private collectors, explorers, and "backyard breeders" - Exec. Director and Plant Selection Committee (Linda Pinkham, Don Hyatt) by the end of Feb. 2006; 7. Exploring the potential for introduction into the program plants commercially available in the US, but not available in VA, preferably in whole Mid Atlantic region - Exec Director, Plant Selection Committee (Jack Campbell) by the end of Feb. 2006. II. PLANT ACQUISITION/MANAGEMENT MODELS Major scenarios: 1. Germplasm donation - Best (and less realistic) option: Plant acquisition with full ownership granted from the Donor. Full freedom of action afterwards.2. Plant testing agreement (not an actual acquisition) — (a) the Donor provides plants for testing only, keeping the ownership and all the rights associated with this ownership, OR (b) Donor provides plants for testing with agreement to market the plants afterwards through our system and with our tags. In the first case the only commitments the partners make are for performance reporting and for information/germplasm non-disclosure to third parties (service for a fee, governed by a testing agreement). In the second case all terms and conditions for marketing the plant must he negotiated and both parties shall be bonded with a contract. NB! Plants provided through federal net of germplasm repositories may be available for research purposes only, which would exclude further commercialization; however, this germplasm could be used as parental forms for breeding. 3. Purchasing commercial available, unpatented and underused in VA resources with high commercial potential. Testing mostly for adaptation abilities and marketing through our system. 4. Agreement for Voluntary royalty - Working with a Donor-owned patentable material, but with no patent protection sought. 5. Control by propagation know-how (patent), instead of the actual germplasm - Donor keeps the rights on germplasm entirely (or partially). Beautiful Gardens® is owner of the know-how for micro-propagation (patent OR exclusivity). ACTION PLAN: 1. Finalizing the work on the frame contracts/agreements covering all potential scenarios for plant acquisitions or management of germplasm available for testing — Director and Administrative Committee. by February 15, 2006 2. Developing a collaborative agreement for development of a working mechanism for implementing Paragraph 5 above – development of patentable micro-propagation protocols for multiplication of difficult to propagate (or easy to propagate but in very low rate) plants — Administrative Committee and VT/IALR/ISRR research cluster by Mar 31. 2006. |
Send mail to info@horticulturemanagement.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
VNA
Horticulture Research Foundation Inc