> how are you proposing incentivizing developing new varietals if nobody can have patents on any breeds at all?

How do academics make scientific discoveries if the results are public?

Government, industry, and private patronage. People want better crops, they’ll fund and make contests for them

Well, yes. That's what is happening. The contest is called "market" and "the people" reward competitors by paying them.

Patents are used to enforce the rules so that competitors don't cheat.

Selective breeding requires sometimes _decades_ of commitment and a lot of very boring work. This is not a good fit for academia and even worse fit for government programs.