Article by Gregor Heard; posted 22 April 2025 in Farm Weekly, provided by John Carragher
A small South Australian business has claimed a victory against CSIRO, which has applied to extend the definition of its patent over technology used to produce high-fibre wheat varieties.
Urrbrae Foods chief executive John Carragher said he would continue to fight against CSIRO’s patents through the government agency responsible for administering intellectual property law, Intellectual Property Australia.
Mr Carragher said the germplasm in the high-fibre wheat, which has been commercialised by CSIRO through its Arista Cereal Technologies business, a joint venture with French breeder Limagrain, was naturally occurring.
He said Urrbrae had been developing a product based on similar genetic material, but that it had not come from the CSIRO germplasm.
“The central part of our argument is that the genetic material used in the CSIRO varieties is found in existing material,” Mr Carragher said. “We don’t think it is in the best interest of the grains industry to have these sort of advances locked up with patents.”
CSIRO’s high-fibre wheat features an important health benefit, with flour milled from the varieties having six times the fibre of regular flour, without any impact on baking performance.
There is substantial consumer interest in the health benefits of the product, not only in Australia but through other developed nations including the US and Japan.
Mr Carragher said the concept of high-fibre wheat varieties was a win for grain producers and consumers but said he had issues with CSIRO being able to lock up the technology using patents.
“I don’t think patents on naturally occurring traits help develop a vibrant industry. We got access to the traits independently of the CSIRO genetics, yet CSIRO is claiming ownership, restricting the commercial pathway for the trait.”
For its part, CSIRO said the patent created certainty throughout the supply chain, allowing co-partners to become involved with confidence.
“CSIRO has a long track record of partnering with industry and research organisations to translate science into commercial opportunities that create real impact for all Australians,” a CSIRO spokesperson said.
The recent decision by IP Australia was in relation to a specific technology separate to the one developed by Arista, which has already been commercialised. CSIRO has been working to gain patents for the second generation of technology globally and has succeeded in jurisdictions including Japan, Mexico and India. However, it has not been successful in the US as yet and following the IP Australia decision last week in favour of Urrbrae, it will need to amend its application.
The CSIRO spokesperson said IP Australia had initially ruled in favour of the patent, prior to the objection from Urrbrae Foods and that only one of the grounds for opposition had been approved.
Mr Carragher said the case raised issues throughout Australia’s plant breeding industry.
“We don’t want to effectively see naturally occurring traits patented and then access to those genetics shut down,” he said. “What we’ve seen with the original Arista deal is that CSIRO has a deal with a French plant breeder in Limagrain and a Japanese owned miller in Allied Pinnacle. We don’t feel that this is in the best interests of the Australian grains industry. There is no doubt the high-fibre wheat genetics are very exciting, we would love to see as many farmers get access to them as possible.”
For its part CSIRO said that the Arista deal showed the benefits for Australian grain growers, with a number of export markets opening up, creating a high-value wheat proposition for growers.
Arguing against Mr Carragher’s claim that it was ‘banking’ patents at the expense of the rest of the industry, the CSIRO spokesperson said the Arista technology showed how plant breeding could be applied to create a higher-value export proposition for Australian growers.
The spokesperson said CSIRO used patents to protect the intellectual property that it generated to assist in the process of bringing the technologies to market.
Mr Carragher said he found it hard to reconcile CSIRO, as a publicly funded organisation, backing foreign corporate interests.
The CSIRO spokesperson said the benefits from the high-fibre wheat technology flowed through to Australian growers and CSIRO’s commercialisation efforts were a positive for Australian grain producers.
“CSIRO’s research commercialisation efforts drive lasting impact, enable sustained research investment, and benefit all Australians,” the spokesperson said.
From John Carragher’s LinkedIn post:
After 5 years of legal process I can finally announce that my objection to a new Australian patent being granted to CSIRO for a high amylose wheat was SUCCESSFUL!
Their claim that the outcrossing of the 3 parents of a high amylose wheat first described in 1999 by a Japanese researcher with three 20-year old Australian wheat varieties some of which gave higher amylose and fructan levels of the original line could be applied to outcrossing with ALL VARIETIES of bread wheat was found to lack support. This allows other high amylose bread wheat lines to be commercialised without threat of infringement and gives more Australian growers, food manufacturers and consumers the opportunity to grow, manufacture and buy products that have significant pre-biotic gut health benefits without having to pay a premium for patent licencing of technology that Australian taxpayers have already funded!
Urrbrae Foods (my small single director company) has licenced a high amylose wheat developed at the University of Adelaide by the late Dr Colin Jenner to enter into this space. Unfortunately the 5 years of uncertainty surrounding this decision means that it will still take 2 years of pre-commercialisation work to get to the stage where Australian food manufacturers and consumers can have a choice about what high amylose wheat they can buy.