Scientists create open source plant seeds to battle corporate shop of horrors

April 24, 2014, 9:03 AM The open source software development model has proven itself time and time again over the years. Now scientists at the Open Source Seed Initiative have actually taken that model and used it to create seeds for crops for the benefit of everyone. Yes, they have created the first open source seeds to be used in providing plants for food.

According to NPR:

A group of scientists and food activists is launching a 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.

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.

More at NPR

What a fantastic idea! I was aware of the issues of seed control and the creation of "franken-seeds" by large companies, and how that can negatively affect farmers and consumers. But it never occurred to me that someone would basically open source seeds to promote sharing and to protect everyone from narrow-minded and profit-driven corporations. Kudos to the folks that thought this one up.

Linux Foundation and companies announce Core Infrastructure Initiative The Linux Foundation and companies such as Amazon, Google, VMWare and others have joined together to provide funding for core open source projects in the wake of the Heartbleed bug.

According to The Linux Foundation:

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Scientists create open source plant seeds to battle corporate shop of horrors