Sophisticated, Well-Organized Flower Production in Japan 

 

FloraHolland (31 januari 2012) - In Northern Japan, a farmer's collective has found an innovative way to prosper; and their creativity has become a model for growers worldwide.
By 1971 Mr. Kudo and other Ashiro farmers tried growing a different crop – blue gentians - starting with a variety that grew wild in the nearby hills. Gentian flowers are highly prized in Buddhist Japan, where families place Gentians on their ancestors’ graves.

The Kudos are part of a farmers’ collective that has created an industry of cut flowers and potted plants worth more than 13 million US$, largely by developing dozens of new Gentian varieties in partnership with the city government’s Research & Development centre.
Their decades-long efforts paid off. Ashiro now licenses the production of their ten most successful Gentian varieties to flower growers as far away as Chile and New Zealand.
Ashiro gentians are sold not just in exclusive Tokyo shops but also in New York City and Brussels.
Their unique varieties are registered, and their breeding rights are protected. It’s a promising trend that could ensure a future for Ashiro’s next generation.

Peter Button is the Vice Secretary-General of UPOV, the International Union for the Protection of new plant varieties, affiliated with the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO.
“If breeders didn’t have protection - it would be possible for other people to reproduce it without any form of compensation for the breeder.”

Through this link one can watch the UN’s short video, showing the activity of this successful group of growers: http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/11/japan-booming-flower-industry.html  
Transcript (pdf): http://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/unia1321.pdf

Source: UN Multimedia 18/11/2011