Why the CPVO matters now more than ever.
WHY IT MATTERS: As global agriculture faces the converging pressures of climate change, resource scarcity, shifting geopolitics, and evolving consumer demands, the need for resilient, high-performing plant varieties has never been more urgent. In the European Union, where strategic autonomy in food production is gaining prominence, the breeding sector stands at a critical juncture — and the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) remains one of its most vital institutions as a key driver to support the breeding sector and promote the innovation that farmers need.
A Pillar of Agricultural Advancement
The CPVO administers the Community Plant Variety Rights (CPVR) system, which grants exclusive rights to breeders for the commercialization of new plant varieties within the EU. This protection incentivizes the development of improved plant varieties, contributing to food security, environmental sustainability, and economic growth.
Over the past three decades, the CPVO has become much more than an intellectual property registry. It has quietly, but decisively, underpinned Europe’s capacity to adapt, innovate, and lead in plant breeding. Today, as the EU navigates its environmental ambitions, a fragile global supply chain, and the challenge of boosting productivity sustainably, the CPVO’s role takes on new weight.
To address the current challenges, the CPVO is exploring innovative tools to enhance the Office overall efficiency. In particular, the use of artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) offers promising opportunities to streamline workflows, improve user support, assist with document processing and classification, and extract insights from technical and legal data. By integrating such technologies, the CPVO can modernize its operations, reinforce trust in the IP system, and make the protection of plant innovation more accessible, cost-effective, and responsive to the needs of a fast-evolving breeding sector. CPVO is also leading strategic discussions with its network of Examination Offices to try and improve cost effectiveness of the system.
Beyond its core technical mandate of processing applications and ensuring the quality of DUS testing in partnership with its network of Examination Offices in the Member States, the CPVO plays a broader strategic role by strengthening the credibility and perceived value of the CPVR system among plant breeders. This involves not only maintaining high standards in the examination and granting of rights, but also actively promoting awareness, legal certainty, and enforceability of CPVRs. By doing so, the CPVO contributes to building a climate of trust in the intellectual property framework, encouraging breeders – particularly small and medium-sized enterprises – to invest in developing new, improved plant varieties under the assurance that their innovations will be fairly protected and commercially viable within the EU and beyond.
The Numbers Behind the Narrative
While many in the seed sector are well-acquainted with the CPVR system, recent statistics highlight the scale and endurance of the CPVO’s impact:
- Over 70,000 Community Plant Variety Rights granted since 1995
- More than 33,000 titles currently in force
- Applications received from 71 countries, reinforcing its global credibility
- 3268 applications in 2024 alone — despite broader economic uncertainty
This means that per day, almost nine new plant varieties become protected. Crop-specific data from 2024 shows where innovation is most active:
- Ornamentals: 1,130 applications (34,6%)
- Agricultural crops: 1132 applications (34,6%)
- Vegetables: 742 applications (222,9%)
- Fruit crops: 258 applications (7,9%)
The consistent flow of applications, especially from major breeding hubs like the Netherlands, France, and Germany, reflects the CPVO’s enduring relevance and user trust — even as the regulatory environment grows more complex.
Environmental and Economic Value: The Hidden Dividend
Recent EU-wide analyses — including a landmark joint study by the CPVO and the EUIPO[1] — show that the CPVR system delivers outsized environmental and economic benefits:
- 62 million tons of avoided greenhouse gas emissions per year
- 14 billion cubic meters of water saved annually
- 6.4% increase in production for arable crops attributable to CPVR-backed innovation
- 15.1% uplift in ornamental crop output thanks to protected varieties
In addition to these quantifiable outcomes, wages in sectors like arable farming and horticulture are significantly higher — 12.6% and 11% respectively — compared to scenarios without CPVR protections.
Moreover, according to the same study, most of the applicants are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for over 90% of CPVR holders holding 60% of titles in force. This highlights the fundamental role of the CPVO in supporting innovation, competitiveness, and market access for SME breeding companies, promoting wider competition and strengthening resilience of the breeding sector.
This translates not only to profitability for breeders and seed companies but to healthier rural economies and more attractive career prospects in agriculture.
More Than a Registry: A Strategic Enabler
In times of disruption, institutions that provide continuity, clarity, and credibility become indispensable. The CPVO does exactly that. It offers:
- A harmonized, efficient pathway for breeders to protect innovation across all 27 EU Member States, acting with scientific rigor and neutrality in evaluating distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS) criteria.
Harmonization efforts have been substantively intensified at the European level. These efforts have promoted structured collaboration and mutual learning among the national Examination Offices, under the coordination of the CPVO. A key driver of this process has been the implementation of the Quality Audit System (QAS), which provides a common framework for monitoring, assessing, and continuously improving the quality of technical examinations. By setting shared benchmarks and facilitating peer reviews and technical meetings, the QAS has contributed to a more consistent and transparent interpretation of DUS standards, thereby increasing the reliability and credibility of examination results. As a result, plant breeders benefit from a more predictable and uniform decision-making environment, while the overall system moves towards greater efficiency and legal certainty in the granting of CPVRs
Moreover, under its R&D strategy, the CPVO has strategically invested resources to improve the quality, efficiency, and scientific robustness of DUS testing. This includes the development of centralized and interoperable databases in close collaboration with Examination Offices, enabling enhanced data sharing and comparability of variety descriptions across countries. Such initiatives support the progressive introduction of advanced testing tools — such as molecular markers and image analysis — aimed at reinforcing the objectivity and reproducibility of examinations. Collectively, these actions strengthen the global positioning of the European system and its capacity to respond to the evolving demands of innovation, trade, and food security.
- A foundation for private R&D investment, ensuring that EU breeders can compete globally – especially against larger, consolidated markets.
Its collaborative relationship with international partners and adherence to UPOV standards position the CPVO as a strategic link between European breeders and the global seed economy. This role is exemplified by its active cooperation with non-EU Examination Offices in countries such as Japan or Mexico, among others, enabling mutual recognition of technical expertise and facilitating knowledge exchange on DUS testing methodologies. In addition, the CPVO has provided technical support and guidance in the implementation of EU-funded cooperation projects such as IP Key in China, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, thereby promoting the alignment of plant variety protection systems with UPOV 1991 standards and facilitating international market access for European breeders.
Moreover, a recently adopted horizon scanning strategy will also provide CPVO with business intelligence essential to prepare and adapt CPVO´s policies and decisions to changes in business models that may have an influence in IPR strategies of breeding companies in the different sectors.
The Take-Home Message
The seed sector doesn’t stand still — and neither should its support systems. As the EU leans into green transformation, technological sovereignty, and food security, the CPVO emerges as more than a gatekeeper for variety rights: it’s a quiet engine of progress. It enables the development of varieties that are not only more resilient and productive but also more aligned with the environmental and ethical expectations of today’s agriculture.
Breeders may not always see the CPVO’s impact in their day-to-day work. But take it away, and the entire ecosystem — innovation cycles, investment flows, sustainability efforts — will become vulnerable. The CPVO doesn’t just protect varieties. It protects the future of European plant breeding.
In a time when agriculture must evolve rapidly, the CPVO ensures that innovation can be legally protected, economically viable, and strategically supported. That’s not bureaucracy — that’s vision.
[1] https://cpvo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/cpvr_study_full_report_0.pdf“
