From breeding to marketing
The creation of new varieties is time-consuming and requires more and more means. In France there are nearly one hundred plant breeding companies with scientists working to create new varieties. They often work in collaboration with public bodies such as universities and Inra (French National Agronomic Research Institute).
Stage 1: The Creation of New Varieties
Starting from existing varieties and wild plants, scientists produce new crossbreeds. Using the latest technology, notably biotechnology, they rear improved varieties with new interesting traits.
Every year numerous new varieties are obtained - more resistant to diseases and / or parasites, better adapted to soil and climatic conditions, more productive, with characteristics interesting for industry and for food quality.
The benefits have been impressive: wheat yield has tripled in France in the last forty years; maize, originally a tropical plant, is constantly moving north; the composition of rapeseed has been transformed to produce a very high quality oil.
Registration in the Official Catalogue
When a new variety has been created, it has to be registered in the catalogue. To qualify, the variety is tested on different sites where it is compared to varieties already on the market. The variety undergoes "DUS" tests (distinction, uniformity, stability) for large scale farming, there is a further test of "VCU" (agronomic and technological value).
More than 800 new varieties are proposed each year of which only 30% are accepted. The registration trials are carried out by the Geves , on behalf of the CTPS (technical committee for plant breeding) which is authorized to propose varieties to the Ministry of agriculture. The DUS test results can also be used by the CPVO (Community Plant Variety Office) to protect intellectual property rights concerning new varieties.
Stage 2: Seed Production and Certification
To be put on the market, seeds of different varieties must be grown in sufficient quantities over several generations to meet the certification requirements laid down in EU regulations. To this end, seed production companies sign contracts with plant growers. These contracts are deposited with the Gnis.
The growing plots must be completely free of weeds, and isolated to prevent unwanted pollination from the outside.
When the required quantity of seeds have been grown, they are taken by the production companies which sort, adapt, coat and finally package them and put them on market. For this, the seed production companies are required to have special equipment, laboratories and specialized personnel.
Production Controls
The controls on certified seeds are carried out in the growing fields to verify the varietal identity and purity as well as the respect of production rules. These controls are carried out by the Official Service for Seed Control and Certification (SOC) with the participation of qualified technicians from the production companies.
Controls are also carried out in factories and samples from each seed plot are analyzed to verify germination, specific purity and health. These analyses are carried out by officially recognized laboratories or by the National Seed Testing Station (SNES). To be certified, seeds must conform to both French and EU regulations.
An official certificate, guaranteeing the conformity of the product as the time it was controlled, is attached to each packaging.
For standard vegetable seeds, the official control is carried out uniquely by sampling at the end of the packaging process.
Stage 3: Marketing of the seeds
Once produced and packaged, the seeds are sold to end-users, farmers or members of the public by distributors with numerous outlets all over France. The distributors can be cooperatives, commercial stores or, for some specialized sectors (such as brewing) industrial companies.
Marketing controls
Agents from DGCCRF (office for the repression of fraud), visit the distributors and control random samples to check that they are conform to the labels.
Stage 4: Use of the Seeds
Seeds produced in France cover a very wide and diverse range of needs: production for direct consumption by humans or animals, transformation by industry, cultivation in gardens.