The rights and wrongs of a 70 million yuan seed case

Editor's note: the Lufeng radish case, which lasted for more than a year, ended with the sentencing of dealers and compensation for farmers. Today, we are here to sort out the context of this major case from the beginning, in order to directly attack the deep meaning behind the case. At present, the large-scale operation of agriculture is surging, and the high-risk era of the seed industry has come. How to draw lessons from it, sort out the complex market relationship, clarify the responsibilities of all parties, improve the legal deficiencies, and ensure proper punishment and punishment? it is very important to protect the healthy and lasting development of the industry.

Vegetable farmers should not claim compensation for the full benefit or expected income of the product. Therefore, it is suggested that when there are no substantial seed quality problems, such as the loss caused by insufficient trial planting, abnormal climate and other factors, the amount of compensation should be between the seed sales price and the direct production cost of farmers.

Xu Yong, president of vegetable seed Branch of China seed Association

The characteristics of the variety should be clearly marked on the seed bag label. Many seed enterprises often only mark the advantages, in fact, clearly mark the characteristics or shortcomings of the varieties, which is not only very important for farmers, but also meaningful to protect themselves.

Ma Dehua, Chairman of Tianjin Dreyt seed Co., Ltd.

When China imports seeds, it is necessary to indicate the planting area, which greatly limits the promotion of fine varieties. At present, most of our imported seeds are sold illegally, so this provision is neither realistic nor scientific.

Li Xingchang, General Manager of Shandong Huasheng Agricultural Co., Ltd.

It seems like a chivalrous act for the government to pay for the restoration of farmland, but the legal decision has not been made, so what is the basis for the "advance"? Where does the advance come from? If China's seed industry wants to develop healthily, the law must be sound, the law must be prosecuted, and the law enforcement must be strict, all of which are indispensable.

-- Zhao Qiancheng, General Manager of Tianjin Huierjia seed Technology Co., Ltd.

The concept that growers are equal to vulnerable farmers has been blurred. In the current situation of large-scale land transfer, the disputes between large growers, professional cooperatives and seed enterprises are commercial disputes, which is very important but often ignored by the society.

Song Gang, Vice President of Guangxi seed Association

Throughout the development trajectory of manufacturers in recent years, those who are stronger are not those who have the best ability of innovation, nor those who promote them most diligently, but those who are steady and steady, and whose quality is the most stable. The seed industry "slow is fast", and "stability" is the best word of mouth.

Zhou Yuzhong, General Manager of Qingdao Golden Mother Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.

Positive square

Why can't seed operators get away with the responsibility?

Without the success of experiments, the blind promotion of crop varieties is very prone to accidents.

Tangerine Huainan is tangerine, tangerine Huaibei is trifoliate orange, which is the basic common sense of crop variety promotion. The Law on Agricultural Technology Popularization stipulates that the popularization of crop varieties should follow the principle of adjusting measures to local conditions and going through experiments and demonstration. Crop varieties popularized to seed users must be proved to be advanced, applicable and safe by experiments in the extension area. The radish seeds involved were imported from South Korea by seed operators in Shanghai with approval, and seed operators in Beijing were entrusted to seed operators in Guangdong Province to sell them after sub-packaging. Radish seeds involved in the promotion and management of radish seeds in Guangdong Province must first be proved to be advanced, applicable and safe, otherwise agricultural production accidents will easily occur. The ecological climatic environment, production conditions and cultivation habits of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong Province are different. The radish involved in the case is suitable to be popularized and planted in Shanghai, which does not mean that the summer cultivation in Guangdong Province will not lead to extinction due to flowering through the vernalization stage.

The content of the seed label should have the basis of experimental verification.

Radish does not belong to the main crop, although the popularized radish does not need to pass the variety approval, it must also pass the variety test. The variety description marked on the seed label shall be consistent with the approval announcement for the seeds of major crops, and there shall be a basis for experimental verification for the seeds of non-major crops. From the leaf characteristics and cultivation season characteristics of the labeled contents of the involved seeds, we can see that there is no basis for experimental verification of the labeled contents of the involved seeds. The traits of crop varieties should be tested for variety specificity, consistency and stability (i.e. DUS test). According to the guidelines for testing the specificity, consistency and Stability of New Plant varieties, the leaves of radish can be divided into five types: no or very shallow, middle, deep and midvein, deep and shallow. The content of the seed label is "plate leaves, a small number of flowers and leaves". Because plate leaves and flower leaves do not belong to the classification of leaf characters by DUS test, and "plate leaves, a small amount of flowers and leaves" do not meet the requirements of consistent performance of characters, it can be inferred that the radish varieties involved in the case did not pass the DUS test. The "summer cultivation" marked on the seed label in the case does not meet the requirements for the classification of radish varieties according to the sowing season. The sowing season of radish varieties is divided into spring sowing and autumn sowing. "sowing season" is different from "cultivation season". After a radish blossom failure accident, seed producers cannot provide proof of variety tests organized by the National Agricultural Technology extension Service Center or provincial seed management agencies, such as variety identification certificate, variety registration certificate, and so on, it can be inferred that the radish varieties involved have not passed the performance test of crop varieties. In seed disputes, the content of seed label has no basis for experimental verification, which is an important reason why seed operators bear the responsibility for accidents caused by natural disasters, production conditions and cultivation measures.

It should be noted here that variety trial is not equal to variety test. Seed operators hand over untested seeds to seed users by means of experiments, demonstration, training, guidance and consulting services, which is a variety trial in crop variety promotion activities. The variety test shall have a test plan including test design, test treatment, test repetition, etc., and after the test, a summary report shall be issued including the brief characters, main cultivation measures and conditions of use of the variety. Take this case as an example, although seed operators have sold radish seeds to seed users for several years, they have performed well in the local area, but because they have not provided the basis for variety test and verification, seed operators still cannot be exempted from the responsibility of blindly promoting crop varieties.