4 Approaches for Producing Superior Cannabis Genetics
Looking to set yourself apart from the competition? Consider breeding and patenting signature genetics.
As soon as a new cannabis market launches, one of the first things cultivation companies do after constructing the grow facility is source the cultivars they intend to cultivate and sell. Most of these companies will inevitably strive to source the latest, most popular genetics that have the highest potential retail value due to having desirable qualities like aroma, flavor, color, yield, etc.
However, if every cultivator is chasing after the same genetic qualities, there is a very large possibility that they will ultimately source many of the same chemotypes.
BREED WITH INTENT
Consumer demand will always be a top consideration—it would be pointless to breed cannabis without knowledge of market desires or a specific outcome in mind. Just because one successfully produces cannabis seeds doesn’t mean those seeds are quality, or that the finished product they produce is desirable. There is much more to producing superior desirable genetics than simply breeding two plants. Producers interested in breeding will need to know how to stabilize genetics through hybridization (crossing a superior male specimen (M1) with a superior female one (F1) to produce an F1 hybrid) and backcrossing (producing seeds until the same genetic expression is consistent and stable). That’s not to say it isn’t possible to get lucky, as many have made amazing combinations both on accident and on purpose to produce many popular cultivars. Many “bag seeds” have produced amazing, world-famous cultivars that we remember, know or love today.
Breeding with intent includes doing so ethically. Ethical breeding starts with not stealing or utilizing someone else’s hard-earned intellectual property. When breeding new genetics, always give credit to the original breeder (whenever possible). Cannabis culture speaks loudly, and unsavory (and possibly fraudulent) business practices will be outed eventually. Educated consumers won’t respect misappropriated genetics.
Breeding with intent also means planning your outcome. For example, someone simply taking the two top-selling cultivars and breeding them together likely won’t see satisfactory results. It takes time, multiple generations, hard work and money to properly breed, stabilize and pheno-hunt for superior traits from multiple examples of a given cultivar to hopefully find a plant that exhibits the desired traits that the grower was aiming to enhance. Unstable progeny will never be desirable, as one of the main qualities consumers desire is consistency.
So, how can one breed a signature cultivar without blatantly appropriating genetics from others?
1. Combine landraces with modern cannabis genetics.
One option to produce new cultivars is to utilize old-world, landrace genetics. These varieties have been available for a while and are generally considered “public property.”
When breeding landraces and modern genetics, the latter are more likely to pose potential conflicts. Many of the most popular genetics available today, which are the logical genetics to select for breeding, are ethically (although not always legally) the hard-earned intellectual property of their original breeder. This means that simply sourcing landrace genetics and breeding them with multiple popular cultivars available today will garner little respect in the breeding community.
2. Collaborate with other breeders.
Instead of leveraging other people’s work, growers starting their genetic line can collaborate with breeders responsible for the genetics they want to source. In doing so, the original breeders can share in the new variety’s success. After the old-world and modern genetics are bred together and the new variety stabilized, they can yield a genetic library of incredible diversity, which can be then further bred if required to zero-in on the exact desired genetic expressions.
If a breeder is not successful at producing the desired phenotype expressions in four generations, perhaps it’s best to review practices and start the process over.
After the phenotype has been stabilized to the point where it is consistently producing plants with desired traits, growers can select a progeny with which to breed, whether to produce seed, grow as a mother and clone, or tissue culture. If the genotype and phenotype are truly unique, the cultivar might even be patentable.
Sexual Versus Asexual Propagation
Sexual propagation involves the application of male plant pollen to the stigma of a female plant to produce seed. Sexual propagation utilizes seeds to produce new plants.
Asexual propagation involves taking a part of a parent plant and regenerating it into a new plant via cloning, tissue culture or cell culture.
PATENT CONSIDERATIONS
When developing cannabis genetics, breeders may develop proprietary varieties that might be patentable. And, though cannabis patenting is a fairly new world, there is precedent for such events: The first cannabis plant patent was granted in 2014. To date, there are at least 45 cannabis plant patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and The Plant Patent Act of 1930 offers patent protection for new cannabis plant cultivars.
3. Ensure patent applications have all necessary details and descriptions.
A patent application for any plant must include an exact and detailed botanical description, including each characteristic that distinguishes it from all previously existing plants. The patent process requires that the applicant specify how and where the plant was asexually propagated, technical descriptions of the propagation method, as well as scientific descriptions of the methods used to determine the cannabinoid and terpene profiles.
Many cannabis patent applications have been filed and rejected, and some remain pending. The USPTO may reject a patent application for not satisfying the USPTO’s requirements, for example, because the same cultivar was described online. Patent examiners also scrutinize the plant’s name. By law, a U.S. plant patent constitutes registration under the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), which requires the cultivar to have a name. If another individual or company has a trademark on the proposed cultivar name, the patent examiner can reject the application and advise a name change.
4. Consider each type of patent available for cannabis plants.
There are three protection categories for cannabis or hemp plants that can be granted through the U.S. Patent Office: A utility patent, a plant patent or a USDA plant variety protection (PVP) certificate.
THE CASE FOR BREEDING
Breeding a proprietary genetic library is expensive and time-consuming (taking anywhere from 12 to 36 months in commercial settings, and sometimes all a breeder’s working years). Yet I still believe it to be a logical path forward for cultivation companies. Rather than chase the flavors of the month and end up competing against the same cultivar from another producer on the store shelf, it will be more advantageous and profitable to breed and cultivate proprietary, patent-protected signature cultivars.
A company that breeds and sources its genetics ethically and intentionally, that innovates and produces desirable cultivars, will prefer to keep them proprietary, patented and protected. This will create opportunities to license the genetics to other companies or to keep them proprietary as a signature product that represents the producer.
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