Jenny Koebernick, associate professor in the Department of Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences in the Auburn University College of Agriculture, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Variety Protection Board.
The Plant Variety Protection Act provides legal protection in the form of intellectual property rights to developers of new varieties of plants and calls for a Plant Variety Protection Board.
The board consists of 14 members representing farmers, the seed industry, trade and professional associations, and public and private institutions involved with developing new plant varieties. Members of the board provide oversight and guidance to the program on plant variety protection issues.
The Plant Variety Protection Office examines new applications and grants certificates that protect varieties for 20 years or 25 years for vines and trees. Certificate owners have rights to exclude others from marketing and selling their varieties, manage the use of their varieties by other breeders, and enjoy the legal protection of their work.
The newly appointed members will serve two-year terms.
Koebernick, who is a cotton and soybean breeder, has been at Auburn University since 2016.
