Among the members of this forum (Tomatoville.com), I am probably the most ardent collector of germ plasm from various seed banks (GRIN) etc.
Always, up front, I have stressed the reason for any requests have been for breeding purposes. So often have I requested material that I am sometimes alerted to the first availability of unique germplasm. Many times, I get my requests in so fast that I get the first priorities. This is especially true of potato germplasm. With the growing necessity of Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) the process of requests is slowed down immensely. The PVP laws make many newer materials essentially off-limits.
I have several MTA's sitting on my desk ready to send off, and many more I need to print off and fill out. Now days you even need to get MTA's for tomato pollen to be sent by mail. This approach limits one to using the germplasm in hybrid production, thus never having the OP in question.
After five decades of accessing the germplasm banks, I feel my own germplasm bank is worth something. I am a voracious seed saver and breeder by anyone who knows me.
So much of my "stuff" has controlled germplasm in the pedigree that I have been advised by associates to apply for PVP simply to protect myself and other breeder's germplasm base. This doesn't gain me many friends here likely, but the sad fact remains that new releases are nearly worthless without some form of patent application. Since I have virtually no money to protect myself, this vast array of germplasm languishes.
Just about every accession I request is used in an attempted cross. In fact, if a cross has been made, it is likely that I have that seed in inventory. If no cross was made, I may not even have viable seed of the original request either.
Seeds are like family histories in a way. There are "Seeds" from the old country, but like most families they "marry" out. The original seed is crossed with local populations, and those new populations of seed "marry" into other old families and/or new immigrants. Seeds can be static, or they can be dynamic. The journey I put seeds through is much like human metaphoricals. Life is knowing where we started, and that there is some unknown destination, but it is the journey that we are so exquisitely involved in.
Tom Wagner
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