For this to happen, it will be essential to move towards a modern and stable legal framework that encourages investment, reduces legal uncertainty and allows the country to integrate into the global seed innovation system. According to the document, “Argentina has the potential to use its competitive advantage in agriculture, the educational and technical level of its scientists, and its business capacity to develop a technological hub for the production of new seed varieties”. “This requires starting from a legal system that respects property rights, encourages private investment and promotes the arrival of capital in the sector,” the document states. “The great challenge then lies in finding mechanisms for change that place the sector on a path of growth and prosperity; if this is not achieved, the institutional stagnation determined by chronic legal uncertainty will continue to prevail in the sector,” it concludes. For this model to work, countries need clear and predictable rules that guarantee the protection of innovations. While most of Argentina's competitors modernized their legal systems and converged towards more demanding international standards, the country maintains legislation based on the UPOV 78 convention, in force since the 1970s. One of the most repeated arguments against updating the seed law is that a higher level of protection would favor large multinational companies and reduce competition. However, international evidence shows the opposite: countries with more robust regulatory frameworks, such as those that adopted UPOV 91, exhibit more dynamic and competitive markets. Both countries managed to attract more investment and register a greater number of new varieties, especially from foreign actors. In Argentina, on the other hand, the participation of non-resident investors has fallen over time and the system has become extremely sensitive to political changes, which increases uncertainty and discourages long-term projects. Buenos Aires, December 13 (NA)--In the last 20 years, Argentina has lost more than half of the share of foreign investors in applications for new seed varieties due to “very lax” regulations on property rights, according to a private document. An article from Austral University states that innovation in seeds is one of the central pillars for increasing agricultural productivity and sustaining competitiveness in international markets. However, in Argentina this development faces a key obstacle: an outdated legal framework that does not adequately protect the intellectual property rights of those who invest in new plant varieties. As Agencia Noticias Argentinas was able to learn, the result is a system with low incentives for research and development, both for local and international actors. Unlike what happened decades ago, today innovation in seeds depends largely on the private sector, driven by biotechnological advances and strong investment in applied science. Argentina has scientific capabilities, human capital and a strategic position in agriculture that could allow it to become a technology supplier, and not just a raw material supplier. Even in contexts of greater concentration, the increases in productivity derived from new seeds tend to benefit both producers and innovators. The comparison with Brazil and the United States is illustrative. This is added to a growing gap between registration applications and the effective granting of rights, a sign of deficient institutional functioning. Despite this scenario, the potential is far from exhausted.
