Press Release

Bicameral Fair Seeds for Farmers Act takes on mounting corporate power in America’s seed industry WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) , Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development , Energy , and Credit , teamed up with U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in introducing the Fair Seeds for Farmers Act, new bicameral legislation to stop Big Agriculture from abusing seed patents, reduce prices for farmers, and lower grocery costs. U.S. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA-02) and Greg Casar (D-TX-35) are leading companion legislation in the House. If signed into law, the lawmakers’ legislation would allow farmers to save seeds between seasons, which will lower farmers’ input costs and help reduce downstream food prices. The bill would also help smaller seed companies break into the market, increasing competition and further helping to bring down prices. “Rapid consolidation in the seed industry has had a direct and brutal impact on farms in Vermont and across the country. Big corporations’ abuse of the patent system is making farmers pay more to plant, and the end result is families paying more at the grocery store,” said Senator Welch . “We’re taking on corporate power in the seed industry to keep family farms in business and lower costs for hardworking Americans.” “For decades, Big Ag has ripped off farmers and jacked up food prices for families,” said Senator Warren . “My bill will break these companies’ stranglehold on seeds to lower grocery bills for Americans and give our farmers more freedom over their crops.” “When a handful of powerful corporations dominate the seed market, they can dictate which seeds get planted and the amount of independence growers have over the crops they produce—and the costs ultimately show up in the prices families pay at the grocery store,” said Senator Booker . “This legislation gives farmers the freedom to save seeds, restores competition to the marketplace, and helps lower one of the biggest costs of producing the food we all rely on.” “Food is one of the most basic promises we make to one another: that the people who grow it can make a decent living, and the families they feed can afford to eat. But right now, that promise has been broken thanks to billionaire Big Ag conglomerates who are ripping off both the farmers at the beginning of the food chain and the hardworking folks at the end of it,” said Rep . McGovern . “We have a system right now in this country where corporate giants are pocketing massive profits—ripping off farmers and in turn ripping off families buying food at the grocery store. It’s wrong, and our bill is about starting to change the broken status quo by rebuilding America’s food system from the ground up.” “Every working American knows that groceries are just too expensive,” said Rep . Casar . “By abusing seed patents, big ag companies are putting family farms out of business and driving up the price of food for everyone else. I’m proud to be working with Rep. McGovern on this new bill, which is a key part of the Progressive Caucus’ New Affordability Agenda.” Just four companies control over 75% of the corn and soybean seed markets in the United States. These corporations crowd out competitors and drive up prices for farmers by abusing the patent system to claim sweeping intellectual property protection over broad categories of seeds, allowing them to block smaller companies from developing their own seeds and force them instead to sign restrictive licensing agreements with the dominant seed companies. Although Congress enacted the Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) and the Plant Patent Act (PPA) to balance the IP rights of seed companies with farmers’ and the public’s right to research, save, and use seeds, dominant seed companies have increasingly been reaching beyond these statutes to claim that seeds are also eligible for utility patents, which sweep far more broadly and do not include exemptions for seed saving, research, or experimentation. Giant seed companies also leverage these patents to force farmers to sign exploitative contracts that ban farmers from saving seeds (which make up about 25% of their operating budgets) between seasons to force them to buy new seeds every year, and restrict them from developing or experimenting with seeds. The Fair Seeds for Farmers Act addresses these unfair practices by clarifying that the only intellectual property protections that apply to seeds and plants are the PVPA and the PPA . This provision applies to pending and future patents, but not existing patents. The lawmakers’ legislation would also restrict corporate seed companies from contractually prohibiting farmers from saving seeds between seasons or limiting their use of seeds or plants for research, breeding, experimentation, or propagation. The Fair Seeds for Farmers Act is endorsed by the American Economic Liberties Project, Environmental Working Group, Farm Action Fund, National Family Farm Coalition, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Northeast Organic Farming Association – Massachusetts, Open Markets Institute, and the Organic Seed Alliance, and RAFI-USA. “Seeds are a foundational building block of our food system—and farmers need seeds that are publicly available and adapted to organic and sustainable production in their bioregion. Our food system is at dire risk when seed intellectual property ownership resides with corporations motivated solely by their bottom line. Seed-dominating corporations leverage utility patents to restrict access to innovative and adaptable seed varieties and reduce competition. For decades, RAFI has called for reforms to seed intellectual property law that restore grower sovereignty over seeds. By limiting corporate control over seed and plant intellectual property, the Fair Seeds for Farmers Act will empower seed breeders across the food system to add to the collective biodiversity of seed and develop varieties more resilient to weather, pest, and disease pressures,” said Aaron Johnson , Policy Co-Director , Rural Advancement Foundation International . “The hyper-consolidation and commodification of seeds has eroded farmers’ resilience and diminished the agrobiodiversity of crops cultivated in the US at an alarming rate. Farmers play an important role in seed development by nurturing adaptable seed varieties that can help create a more resilient and affordable food system – yet commodification has recently hindered farmers ability to participate in this essential first component of farming. The Fair Seeds for Farmers Act takes an important step in curtailing corporate abuse of US Patent Law and reaffirms farmers and researchers ability to breed, experiment, propagate, and save seeds without fear of retaliation from large seed companies,” said Nick Rossi , Policy Specialist , National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition . Learn more about the Fair Seeds for Farmers Act. Read and download the full text of the legislation. ###