Plant patents are becoming more prevalent and not much is really known for the average home gardener. Find out why we should keep our seeds patent free.
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Why We Need Patent Free Seeds
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Claire Luby of the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) on the Homesteading & Gardening In The Suburbs Podcast.
Claire shared some real industry insights for the home gardener which you can listen to here:
Read on below if you want a summary of the interview:
About Claire
Claire is a co-founder and former executive director of OSSI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that fosters the growth of decentralized plant breeding and seed enterprises that seek to establish a more agroecologically-based and just food system through the development and release of open source plant varieties.
OSSI has built a network of 48 plant breeders who have released over 500 open source varieties being sold by 68 seed companies in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
About the Open Source Seed Initiative – OSSI
OSSI partners with plant breeders who want to release new varieties that they have bred in an open source fashion.
This means that they ‘register’ their variety with OSSI where it is posted in our database and distribute seed with the OSSI pledge:
“You have the freedom to use these OSSI- Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others’ use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this Pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.”
OSSI also partners with seed companies or seed libraries that distribute or sell OSSI Pledged varieties.
What is an OSSI Pledged variety?
An OSSI pledged variety is a new variety that is distributed with the OSSI Pledge mentioned above.
This means that others have the freedom to use that variety in any way they choose given they don’t restrict others same freedoms.
OSSI also describe this using the Four Seed Freedoms:
- The freedom to save or grow seed for replanting or for any other purpose.
- The freedom to share, trade, or sell seed to others.
- The freedom to trial and study seed and to share or publish information about it.
- The freedom to select or adapt the seed, make crosses with it, or use it to breed new lines and varieties.
Why is it important to keep plants patent-free?
Today, only a handful of companies account for most of the world’s commercial breeding and seed sales.
Increasingly, patenting is used to enhance the power and control of these companies over the seeds and the farmers that feed the world.
Patented seeds cannot be saved, replanted, or shared by farmers and gardeners. And because there is no research exemption for patented material, plant breeders at universities and small seed companies cannot use patented seed to create the new crop varieties that should be the foundation of a just and sustainable agriculture.
Inspired by the free and open source software movement that has provided alternatives to proprietary software, OSSI was created to free the seed – to make sure that the genes in at least some seed can never be locked away from use by intellectual property rights.
How can new gardeners help keep seeds patent-free?
Home gardeners can support change and help to keep seeds free from patents by purchasing OSSI pledged varieties from the OSSI partner seed companies. You can find a list of them right here.
You can also try breeding your own variety using OSSI pledged varieties and pledge it back!
Resources
Learn more about the Open Source Seed Initiative here.
Learn more about the Organic Seed Alliance.
Some great books for budding plant breeders are:
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd Edition
The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving
If you are interested in digging in to read more from the blog check out these posts:
- Tips for a thriving seed bank
- How to adapt your garden to local conditions
- Cheap and easy seed saving supplies
- How to read a seed packet
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