Grapes Born Over 33 Years

Have you ever eaten a Shine Muscat?

They can be eaten skin and all, are sweet, seedless, and have large berries. While they aren't exactly cheap, they have become a representative Japanese grape that is often chosen as a gift or as an autumn treat.

However, perhaps not many people know that it took 33 years for these Shine Muscats to be released to the world.

Furthermore, it is said that this variety, which took 33 years to create, has leaked overseas, resulting in an estimated annual loss of over 10 billion yen according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The fruit of many years of farmers' hard work was, before anyone realized it, being mass-produced by someone else in a distant country.

In this article, using the Shine Muscat as a starting point, I will gently break down the story of "creating" and "protecting" plant varieties.

The time of 33 years

The Shine Muscat variety was registered in 2006. However, its development began in 1988 with cross-breeding experiments at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO).

Variety improvement is the process of crossing two plants to create offspring with desirable traits, then crossing those again, repeating the process over many generations to get closer to the ideal. There is no guarantee that the desired traits will appear, and even if they do, there are countless things that must be confirmed, such as whether it grows stably, whether it is resistant to disease, and whether it can be stored well.

In the case of the Shine Muscat, it took a full 33 years to achieve the deliciousness of being "edible skin and all, seedless, and sweet" while also ensuring ease of cultivation and shelf life. (The selection of the Shine Muscat's parent lineage was in 1973.)

During that time, many researchers were involved. Every year, they would cross-breed, grow, evaluate, and move on to the next generation. That single berry stands on top of that steady accumulation of effort.

What exactly is being protected by a variety?

Registered varieties like the Shine Muscat have a right called "breeder's rights." This is a right that allows the developer to manage the seeds and seedlings of that variety for a certain period. It can restrict others from making copies to sell without permission or taking them overseas.

However, there was a major loophole in this right. Breeder's rights are only effective within the country where they are registered. Even if you register a variety in Japan, if you don't register it separately in other countries, it can be grown freely there.

While the Shine Muscat was registered as a variety domestically, there were countries where registration overseas was either too late or never happened. As a result, Shine Muscat seedlings were brought into China and South Korea, where cultivation spread and production areas were formed.

According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the annual loss is at least 10 billion yen. It is said that the cultivation area in China is now more than 30 times that of Japan.

Why couldn't something that took 33 years to create be protected?

This is the most complex part.

It is believed that NARO was aware that registration overseas was necessary. However, registering a variety overseas takes both money and effort. Registering in multiple countries takes even more effort. It is said that there were circumstances where the budget and personnel for this were insufficient.

Furthermore, there is a deadline for registration. If you do not apply overseas within a certain period after starting sales domestically, you can no longer register it. The fact that this deadline passed in some countries is one of the reasons why the outflow could not be stopped.

With the accumulation of budget and structural issues, 33 years of effort could not be fully protected.

For farmers, it is not as simple as 'starting over from scratch'

The issue of variety leakage does not end with the losses of research institutions. It directly impacts farmers in the field as well.

Japanese Shine Muscat is built on careful cultivation, quality management, and selling at a high price. However, when large quantities of cheap Shine Muscat produced in China and South Korea flow into Southeast Asian markets, the value of 'Japanese-grown' produce begins to collapse.

Even though they are carefully producing high-quality goods, if the image that 'Shine Muscat equals cheap' spreads, prices will plummet. For farmers, it becomes difficult to continue managing their businesses while maintaining quality.

For farmers who have spent years cultivating a variety that took 33 years to create, this is not someone else's problem.

Things changed slightly with the revision of the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act

Against this backdrop, the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act was revised in Japan in 2020.

After the revision, breeders were granted the authority to 'designate countries where export is prohibited' and 'designate regions where cultivation is allowed' for registered varieties. A system was put in place to legally stop violations.

Before the revision, taking legally purchased seedlings overseas was not technically 'illegal.' In other words, there was a loophole in the system that allowed for the leakage.

However, there are still challenges even after the revision. What has already leaked cannot be recovered. Even with laws in place, enforcement overseas can be difficult in some situations. Creating a system to 'protect' and 'continuing to protect' are two different things.

What a bunch at the supermarket shows us

When you do home gardening, you can get a sense of the effort it takes for vegetables and fruits to 'grow.' Watering, fertilizing, pest control, and battling the weather. Even then, it is all measured in one-year cycles.

It took 33 years to breed the Shine Muscat. That is a duration equivalent to the majority of a researcher's professional life.

That bunch on the supermarket shelf is not just a product; it is the result of over 30 years of accumulation and years of careful cultivation by farmers. When you pick it up with that in mind, the weight feels a little different.

The length of time it takes to create a variety, the difficulty of protecting it, and the pain of losing it. Shine Muscat is a fruit that teaches us all of that.

Summary

Shine Muscat is a grape born over 33 years, having been registered as a variety in 2006 after research that began in 1988. It is the result of research that involved repeated generations of cross-breeding and evaluation to achieve its seedless nature and sweetness that allows it to be eaten skin and all.

However, because variety registration overseas was insufficient, unauthorized cultivation spread, and according to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, it has caused losses of over 10 billion yen annually. While the system is being improved with the 2020 revision of the Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act, what has already leaked cannot be recovered.

Creating and protecting varieties are aspects of agriculture that are often invisible. But when you know the story behind what you are eating, the way you see seasonal fruits changes a little.