BC4A Before Agriculture: Bearer Plants (Amendments to IAS 16 and IAS 41) was issued in June 2014, IAS 41 required all biological assets related to agricultural activity to be measured at fair value less costs to sell. However, the Board observed that there is a class of biological assets, bearer plants, that are held by an entity solely to grow produce over their productive life. The Board's principal decision underlying the 2014 amendments is that bearer plants should be treated as property, plant and equipment. Accordingly, the Board decided to account for bearer plants as property, plant and equipment in accordance with the requirements in IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment.

BC4B Nevertheless the Board noted that the same argument is not true for the produce growing on the bearer plants that is undergoing biological transformation until it is harvested (for example, grapes growing on a grape vine). The Board observed that the produce is a consumable biological asset growing on the bearer plant and the growth of the produce directly increases the expected revenue from the sale of the produce. Consequently, fair value measurement of the growing produce provides useful information to users of financial statements about future cash flows that an entity is expected to realise. In contrast the bearer plants themselves are not sold and the changes in the fair value of the bearer plants do not directly influence the entity's future cash flows. The Board also observed that produce will ultimately be detached from the bearer plants and is normally sold separately, meaning it has a market value on its own. This is in contrast to many bearer plants that are unlikely to have an observable market value on their own because they can only be sold while attached to the land.