The Farmer and the Seed
What happens when farmers no longer own or control the seeds we plant? Recent changes in Patent law are changing the nature of seed ownership and are taking this control out of the farmer’s hands. The first big loser is the independent farmer. Without control of the seeds, the farmer is only a commodity contractor – and only until someone somewhere else manages to produce for a lower price. The second big loser is the consumer, as less and less choice is available and high quality cultivars are dropped in favor of those more easily patented. Subsistence farmers and the rural poor worldwide lose too. We need to think about the right of a farmer to save seed, seed patents, and the ownership of the DNA patterns that are the basis of all life.
Plant breeders are protected by the Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA). It is important that a plant breeder, an individual or a corporation, can benefit from the years of effort put into developing and stabilizing a new variety. PVPA protection allows breeders to benefit from their work. But a Patent is different. Rights for a farmer to replant seed on the farm (not for sale) are protected under the PVPA, not so with a Patent. Plant genetic material can be to used to develop new varieties under PVPA. A patent locks up the DNA and limits any use without permission of the patent holder.
In the last century, the variety and quality of seed available increased greatly. Public breeders developed varieties that were available to any farmer that could use them. Farmers improved their own local seed stocks, saving the best.
In 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed patented ownership of an oil eating microbe. Prior to this, life forms were not considered “inventions” and not subject to patent and ownership. There were no seed patents. Patents on DNA within the seed, which are now allowed, fundamentally change the relationship of the farmer and the seed.
A few big companies are now buying up the local seed companies that once gave us many choices. Seed lines that cannot be patented, or that are popular only in one region, are being dropped. Farmers are forced to sign contracts that prohibit the saving of seed and can be sued if patented genes are found in plants growing on the farm. Public breeders (those that remain) now work mostly on patentable traits that will not be freely distributed.
Saving the best seed for future planting has been practiced since the dawn of agriculture. It allows us to re-grow a variety that we like. It leads to better crops, adapted to local conditions and farming practices. It allows rural people in poor countries to feed themselves and their communities.
We are only beginning to learn how the genome works. Will the DNA sequences, that are the base of all life, be available for broader research and the common good, or will they be locked up behind patent laws? Do plant Patents help or hurt farmers? In the future, will we have choices in what to plant? Without the seeds, what is an independent farmer?
- Jonathan Spero
