FALL CREEK’S

EXPERIENCE IN CHINA
 Fall Creek: – A Global Nursery System
• Founded In 1978 in the U.S.
• Family-owned, two active generations
• 150+ hectares of nursery in production
• Wholly-Owned Facilities: US, Mexico, Peru, Spain, The Netherlands,
South Africa, and China
• Presence in Chile
• 35+ million blueberry plants produced per year globally
• 600+ team members worldwide

Our Corporate Structure

Shareholders
Board Of Directors
CoCEOs
Executive Team:
Subsidiaries
Fall Creek China.-
Regional Director: Henk Vaandrager, since
2019
Offices and Nursery in Yunnan, Kunmig
province, China
Low and no-chill blueberry varieties
1) Fall Creek’s Agent.
MMLC Group, our attorney is Matthew Murphey.

One of the specialisations of MMLC is application of IP and PBR

in China (http://mmlcgroup.com/).

2) Process of importing plant material.

 Importing blueberry plant material into China is complicated and
tedious due to the to import permit application process. There are
few import agents that have all required permits to apply for an
import permit.

 Due to Covid logistics to China has become challenging.

 The actual import of plants is as any import of plant material, where

we cooperate with an import agent to handle all formalities.
3) DUS TESTING

 The DUS testing site is on Fall Creek’s demo plot in Yunnan.

 MMLC works directly with the Chinese PBR office and communicates
with them regarding the requirements, visitation schedule and timeline
of evaluation.
 For the visit, a presentation in PowerPoint is needed and shall contain:
1. Details of Fall Creek’s corporate structure and history;
2. Details of applicant varieties;
3. Details of the comparator variety
 For a range of crops there are official DUS testing stations (ornamentals).

For blueberries it was possible to use ‘foreign’ DUS test reports for the PBR
applications, but this was stopped as apparently Chinese DUS test reports
are not recognized by other countries. Now DUS testing of blueberries “in
country’.

As there are no official DUS testing sites for blueberries, we can do this at
our own managed site (which is our preferred choice).
4) Chinese PBR office experience

 Fall Creek does not have direct communication with PBR’s office or
authorities.
 They seem to be open communicators, however …
1. Due to COVID they have changed their visitation a few times
2. Short notice for the visit to our site for DUS test.
• The processing / time line / status of PBR applications is not clear.
As such it is not known when a PBR will be awarded.
• No national list requierement so far for blueberries.
Don’t hesitate to contact our RD in China:

Henk Vaandrager <henkv@fallcreekchina.com>

………………..
Go Blueberries!!
Thank you!
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