Meeting 'duty of care' obligations when developing new pasture species

The domestication of new pasture species for agriculture has a long history in Australia and overseas that continues to this day. The drivers of species and cultivar development include changing farm practice, new farming systems and the increasing need to manage environmental threats. These changes have coincided with an increase in risk aversion of agencies involved in plant improvement programs, which is perhaps motivated by acknowledging the general trend in society to use litigation as a means to resolve problems. It is, therefore, incumbent on pasture scientists, funders and administrators to take into account a reasonable level of 'duty of care' to avoid damage, injury or economic loss to end users or the environment. In this paper, we discuss what is meant by the term 'duty of care' and how it relates to the development of new pasture cultivars, using examples from temperate Australia. We put forward a minimum set of measurements that should be undertaken, and discuss the circumstances under which additional investigations are warranted. The suggested approach aims to achieve a balance between meeting legal, environmental and social obligations without unduly jeopardising the timely development and release of new, improved pasture cultivars.