Public cultivar development

Section 2 of the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act (7 U.S.C. 3157) is amended— (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following: (3) Definitions In this section: (A) Conventional breeding The term conventional breeding means the development of new varieties of an organism through controlled mating and selection without the use of transgenic methods. (B) Cultivar The term cultivar means a variety of a species of plant that has been intentionally selected for use in cultivation because of the improved characteristics of that variety of the species. (C) Public animal breed The term public animal breed means an animal breed— (i) that is the commercially available uniform end product of a publicly funded breeding program that has been sufficiently tested to demonstrate improved characteristics and stable performance; and (ii) with respect to which, if intellectual property rights are asserted, the intellectual property rights are in the form of animal breed patents or animal breed variety protection and not utility patents. (D) Public cultivar The term public cultivar means a cultivar— (i) that is the appropriately named and commercially available uniform end product of a publicly funded breeding program that has been sufficiently tested to demonstrate improved characteristics and stable performance; and (ii) with respect to which, if intellectual property rights are asserted, the intellectual property rights are in the form of plant patents or plant variety protection and not utility patents. (E) Public cultivar or animal breed The term public cultivar or animal breed means— (i) a public animal breed; and (ii) a public cultivar.; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (l) Public cultivar and animal breed development funding (1) Set-aside (A) In general Of the amount of grants made under the provisions of law described in subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall ensure that not less than $75,000,000 for each fiscal year is used for competitive research grants that support the development of public cultivars and animal breeds. (B) Provisions of law described The provisions of law referred to in subparagraph (A) are— (i) subsections (b) and (c); (ii) section 1672B(e) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5925b(e)); (iii) sections 1619 through 1624 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.); (iv) any relevant competitive grant program authorized by section 406 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7626), as determined by the Secretary; and (v) section 412 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 7632). (2) Priority In making grants under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give priority to high-potential research projects that lead to the release of public cultivars and animal breeds, including— (A) regionally adapted public cultivars and animal breeds; (B) public cultivars and animal breeds bred for environmental resilience, including resilience to changing climates; (C) public animal breeds adapted to grazing and overwintering as appropriate for the applicable production region; (D) germplasm collection and curation, with emphasis on native plant and animal species; (E) public cultivars and animal breeds bred to enhance the nutritional and health outcomes of local and Indigenous populations; (F) public cultivars and animal breeds of Indigenous and place-based importance that are endangered; and (G) public cultivars and animal breeds with beneficial and compatible characteristics and behaviors for dual-use renewable energy-agricultural systems. (3) Grants The Secretary shall ensure that the terms and renewal process for any competitive grants made under subsection (b) in accordance with paragraph (1) facilitate the development and commercialization of public cultivars and animal breeds through long-term grants. (4) Requirement for domestic production No person that receives title to a patent or variety protection relating to any public cultivar or animal breed developed using funds received under this subsection, and no assignee of any such person, shall grant to any person the exclusive right to use or sell that public cultivar or animal breed unless that person agrees that any cultivars or animals embodying the public cultivar or animal breed or produced through the use of the public cultivar or animal breed will be produced substantially in the United States. (5) Report Not later than October 1 of each year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that provides information on all public cultivar and animal breeding research funded by the Department of Agriculture, including— (A) a list of public cultivars and animal breeds developed and released in a commercially available form; (B) areas of high-priority research; (C) identified research gaps relating to public cultivar and animal breed development; and (D) an assessment of the state of commercialization for public cultivars and animal breeds that have been developed..