Open source seeds

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Open Source Seeds ( spelling : OpenSourceSeeds ) is a European initiative that was founded in 2017 by Agrecol eV. The aim is to use the open source seed license to protect seeds as a common good. The initiative is primarily concerned with protection against patenting and, as a less restrictive variant of privatization, also the exclusion of plant variety protection .

OpenSourceSeeds supports plant breeders with the licensing of new varieties and advises seed producers and traders on how to deal with open source licensed seeds. In addition, the initiative promotes research to finance owner-free plant breeding and coordinates national and international networks.

history

For millennia, seeds were considered a common good. The privatization of plant genetic resources is more recent. In Germany, plant breeders' rights were first enshrined in law through the Plant Variety Protection Act 1953. International protection of new varieties of plants followed in 1961 with the establishment of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants ( UPOV ) and is based on the intellectual property law of seeds. In the 1980s, the development of genetic processes to change the genetic makeup of plants brought about decisive changes. As early as 1980 the US Supreme Court decided in the Diamond v. Chakrabarty, the gene sequences are allowed to be patented, which opened up the possibility of privatizing seeds in the future. Ultimately, UPOV and patent legislation pushed the privatization of the seed sector ever more strongly, which in turn led to a growing market concentration of the seed industry. It is above all international chemical groups that have brought about the concentration of the seed industry, companies that have discovered a synergetic and highly profitable business area in plant breeding and that have bought up a large number of smaller seed companies.

In order to counteract the monopoly of global seed corporations, comparable seed initiatives have been formed around the world. In addition to OpenSourceSeeds in Germany, examples include the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) in the USA and bioleft in Argentina. In contrast to OSSI, whose open source license is based on a legally non-binding moral agreement, a promise, the open source seed license is based on a license agreement under civil law.

Goal and vision

The aim of the initiative is to preserve seeds as a common good with the help of the open source seed license . The core belief (English plays that natural resources as commons commons ) all should be accessible to a supporting role. Commoning as an alternative to individual intellectual property rights is an old concept of collaborative resource management.

As a countermovement to the commercialization of natural resources, OpenSourceSeeds tries to counteract the reduction in genetic diversity and one-sidedness in agricultural production. By ensuring free access to seeds and promoting further development, open source seed licenses make a contribution to the adaptation of agriculture to climate change. Due to the independence of the seed users and of society as a whole, the licenses are an important step towards the concept of food sovereignty first introduced in 1996 by the small farmers' movement la Via Campesina , which aims to democratize the food system. OpenSourceSeeds' vision is therefore to develop a non-private seed sector geared towards the common good.

strategy

In order to legally protect seeds as a common good and to protect them from patenting and plant variety protection, the rules of open source licenses developed by computer scientists were transferred to seeds for the first time. Varieties from non-profit breeders who do without plant variety protection and want to make their new varieties available to the community without restriction can thus be protected from private appropriation. Thus, unlike protected varieties, open-source seeds are free of intellectual property rights and accessible to everyone. The seeds can be propagated, sold, passed on or cultivated without restriction.

The Open Source Seed License is based on the following three rules:

  1. Everyone is allowed to use the seeds.
  2. Nobody is allowed to privatize the seeds or their further developments.
  3. Future recipients are assigned the same rights and obligations.

Through the copyleft clause, the license allows new users to benefit from the same rights as the previous owners and gives them the same duties. This ensures that the protection applies to all further developments of the corresponding variety.

So far, several varieties have been placed under the license, three tomato varieties, three wheat varieties, one sweet corn and one cherry pepper. Since 2019 there has also been an open-source bread made from the flour of the wheat variety “Convento C”. The marketing of the bread promotes free breeding, because 2 ct for every kilo of flour goes into selected breeding projects. The money thus generated for plant breeding is still small, but it is increasing from year to year. In order to ensure the long-term financing of community seeds, efforts are being made to involve society as a whole in the costs of owner-free plant breeding.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Seeds as a common good | www.agrecol.de. Retrieved January 10, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Christoph Seidler: New tomato variety: attack of the seed pirates . In: Spiegel Online . April 27, 2017 ( spiegel.de [accessed January 10, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Bio-Linux or: Saatgut als Commons . In: CommonsBlog . April 14, 2017 ( commons.blog [accessed January 10, 2018]).
  4. ↑ a b c d Johannes Kotschi: Seeds as common good - open source licenses are a contribution to more diversity in the development of new plant varieties . Südlink 183, INKOTA-Dossier 19, March 2018, p. 20-22 .
  5. ↑ About us | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved February 17, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Johannes Kotschi and Klaus Rapf: Liberation of the seeds through open source licensing . Ed .: AGRECOL eV 2016.
  7. ^ Jack Kloppenburg: Re-purposing the master's tools: the open source seed initiative and the struggle for seed sovereignty . In: The Journal of Peasant Studies . tape 41 , no. 6 , November 2, 2014, ISSN  0306-6150 , p. 1225-1246 , doi : 10.1080 / 03066150.2013.875897 .
  8. ↑ Johannes Kotschi and Bernd Horneburg: The Open Source Seed License: A novel approach to safeguarding access to plant germplasm . In: PLOS Biology . tape 16 , no. 10 , 23 October 2018, ISSN  1545-7885 , p. e3000023 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pbio.3000023 .
  9. ^ A b c Johannes Kotschi, Gregor Kaiser: Open Source for Seeds - Discussion Paper . Ed .: AGRECOL eV 2012.
  10. ↑ The list | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved July 11, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Breeder information | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved February 17, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Support | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved February 17, 2020 .

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