*Article* **Law-Driven Innovation in Cereal Varieties: The Role of Plant Variety Protection and Seed Marketing Legislation in the European Union**

**Serena Mariani**

Department of Law, University of Macerata, 62100 Macerata, Italy; s.mariani9@unimc.it

**Abstract:** The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of EU legislation in shaping innovation in cereal varieties. The research focuses on two fields of law and their relationship, i.e., intellectual property and agricultural law. More specifically, the normative legal investigation concerns the role played by Community plant variety protection and the EU legislation on the marketing of seed and plant propagating material in shaping innovation and stimulating plant breeding of new cereal varieties. The focus is on cereal varieties because innovation in this field has a great socio-economic impact, as well as strategic scientific and environmental implications. Breeding new cereal varieties is essential for the competitiveness of the seed and agricultural sector of the EU, and it can contribute to food security and the achievement of sustainable development goals. The study finds that it is necessary to simplify the existing legal framework by coordinating intellectual property and agricultural law, providing for legislative review and better coherence in order to effectively shape innovation and meet the changing demands of society and the sustainability challenges.

**Keywords:** agricultural innovation; sustainable agriculture; plant breeding; cereals; intellectual property; agricultural law; plant variety rights; seed marketing; European Union
