The Rise of Patented Seeds

The food we know today is a result of innumerable generations saving and sharing seeds, resulting in a delicious array of crop diversity. a product of nature and ruled by abundance, seeds were universally known to be free to all, and meant to be shared.

Today this common understanding is under threat where the power of a court can deem seed sharing illegal, while in turn empowering a corporation to claim ownership of a seed which took generations to become what we know today. These are plants protected by utility patents.

Seeds in Common believes that plant utility patenting poses a risk to seed diversity and our collective seed freedom. We are raising awareness about this threat and mobilizing our communities to identify and boycott utility-patented seeds. It is interestingly noticeable how difficult it can be to find this information, so we have collected a list of known patented seeds for all to to explore to make informed seed purchases.

View our compiled 2022 list of patented seeds distributed by major seed companies.

If you have suggestions for known patented seeds that are not on this list, please email education(@)seedsincommon.org.