Chapter 5: Plant breeder's rights

PBR applications and registrations

In 2024, applications in Australia fell by 4.7%, from 296 in 2023 to 282 in 2024. PBR registrations experienced a sharp decline, falling by 57.2%, from 290 to 127 in 2024 (see Figure 4.1).

The process of registering a PBR typically takes around 2.5 years. Before being registered, the application must pass a substantive examination process, a comparative growing trial, and detailed description of the plant variety in the application must be published in the Plant Varieties Journal 6 months before being registered.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions made growing trials harder to organise and attend. After the pandemic, field examinations resumed contributing to a higher number of registrations in 2023.

The reduced registration numbers in 2024 were attributed to delays in publishing Journals and in processing registrations. PBR examiners attended to high priority work such as acceptances and attendance at growing trials. Due to their small volume, PBR filings and registrations are subject to year-on-year variation, influenced by individual applicants and cases.

Figure 5.1 PBR applications and registrations in Australia, 2013 to 2024

Origins of PBR applications

Resident and non-resident applications

In line with recent trends, the number of non-resident filings eclipsed resident filings, with 182 applications and 100 applications (Figure 5.2)

Figure 5.2 Volume of PBR applications by domicile, 2015 to 2024

Between 2018 and 2022 there was a year-on-year decline in the number of PBR applications filed by residents, by an average 8.7% per annum. The decline in resident filings was likely a result of economic losses from Australia’s devastating bushfires in 2019–20, and the severe droughts across Eastern Australia from 2017–2019.

In 2023, resident PBR filings sharply recovered, before falling again in 2024. The 31.5% decline in resident filings in 2024 is the largest recorded decline in at least a decade and brings their share of total filings to 35.5%. As overall PBR application volumes in Australia are relatively small, they are volatile and strongly influenced by the behaviour of individual applicants.

Non-resident filings recovered from a slightly weaker 2023, increasing by 21.3%, to 182 in 2024.

Overseas locations of origin

Many growing industries rely on foreign-sourced plant material – living genetic material such as seeds, plants or plant parts – brought into Australia to improve plant varieties. PBRs help facilitate the international transfer of varieties into Australia and the local investments needed to adapt varieties for Australia’s environment¹. 

The US is the leading location of origin for PBR filings in Australia, with 50 applications in 2024 (Figure 5.3). The US has remained the lead origin over the past 10 years. The only exception was in 2021 when the Netherlands led the US for overall filings. In 2024, the US was followed by the Netherlands (22 applications), New Zealand (16), Germany (13), the United Kingdom (13) and Switzerland (10).

Applications grew from Germany (10 more applications than in 2023), New Zealand (+9), and the United States (+9) in 2024. In contrast, filings from the Netherlands fell by 7, and those from Switzerland fell by 7.

Figure 5.3 Leading locations of origin for PBR filings in 2024, and high-volume locations with the greatest relative growth or decline in 2024²

Note: The top 6 locations are shown rather than the top 5 because the UK and Denmark were tied with in 5th place with both having 8 applications.

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