Agreement licenses California strawberry varieties across globe

The University of California-Davis has entered into an agreement with Global Plant Genetics Ltd., Norfolk, England, to sublicense new strawberry varieties.

The agreement covers some countries in Europe, the Mediterranean and South America, and governs commercialization of varieties from the UC-Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program, according to a news release.

Global Plant Genetics will work with the university researchers, nurseries and growers to test whether the new varieties have potential in the various countries covered by the agreement. If a variety is commercialized, Global Plant Genetics will manage licensing to growers for production, distribution and sales to consumers, according to the release.

The agreement doesn’t affect university licenses with California growers.

“We are truly excited to be representing the world’s number-one strawberry breeding program,” Rupert Hargreaves, director of Global Plant Genetics, said in the release. “The quality of plant breeding, access to modern science, huge gene pool and impressive team of people give us confidence that varieties from this program will be at the forefront of international strawberry production for many years to come.”

Dushyant Pathak, the associate vice chancellor of Technology Management and Corporate Relations in the UC-Davis Office of Research, said the university’s enhancement of the strawberry breeding program made the “development of the next generation of commercially successful strawberry varieties,” in the release.