Plant Breeders Release First ‘Open Source Seeds’

hide captionBackers of the new Open Source Seed Initiative will pass out 29 new varieties of fourteen different crops, including broccoli, carrots and kale on Thursday.

Backers of the new Open Source Seed Initiative will pass out 29 new varieties of fourteen different crops, including broccoli, carrots and kale on Thursday.

A group of scientists and food activists is launching a campaign Thursday to change the rules that govern seeds. They're releasing 29 new varieties of crops under a new "open source pledge" that's intended to safeguard the ability of farmers, gardeners, and plant breeders to share those seeds freely.

It's inspired by the example of open source software, which is freely available for anyone to use, but cannot legally be converted into anyone's proprietary product.

At an event on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, backers of the new Open Source Seed Initiative will pass out 29 new varieties of fourteen different crops, including carrots, kale, broccoli and quinoa. Anyone receiving the seeds must pledge not to restrict their use by means of patents, licenses or any other kind of intellectual property. In fact, any future plant that's derived from these open source seeds also has to remain freely available as well.

Irwin Goldman, a vegetable breeder at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, helped organize the campaign. It's an attempt to restore the practice of open sharing that was the rule among plant breeders when he entered the profession more than 20 years ago.

"If other breeders asked for our materials, we would send them a packet of seed, and they would do the same for us," he says. "That was a wonderful way to work, and that way of working is no longer with us."

These days, seeds are intellectual property. Some are patented as inventions. You need permission from the patent holder to use them, and you're not supposed to harvest seeds for replanting the next year.

Even university breeders operate under these rules. When Goldwin creates a new variety of onions, carrots or table beets, a technology-transfer arm of the university licenses it to seed companies.

This brings in money that helps pay for Goldman's work, but he still doesn't like the consequences of restricting access to plant genes what he calls germplasm. "If we don't share germplasm and freely exchange it, then we will limit our ability to improve the crop," he says.

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Plant Breeders Release First 'Open Source Seeds'