OSSI- The Open Source Seed Initiative

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The Open Source Seed Initiative was founded in 2012 as a response to large conglomerate companies like Monsanto and Dupont who patent protect and own seeds. By taking inspiration from open source software and the free dispersion of knowledge the OSSI goal is to free the seed.

OSSI partners with plant breeders and seed companies who pledge one or more varieties and agree to sell it to their customers as OSSI-pledged freed seed.

The OSSI Pledge:

You have the freedom to use these OSSI-Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others’ use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this Pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.

Currently 36 plant breeders and 46 seed companies are partnered with OSSI. Customers who buy these seeds are allowed:

The freedom to save or grow seed for replanting or for any other purpose.
The freedom to share, trade, or sell seed to others.
The freedom to trial and study seed and to share or publish information about it.
The freedom to select or adapt the seed, make crosses with it, or use it to breed new lines and varieties.

Patent protected seeds cannot be saved, replanted or shared by farmers and cannot be used to breed new crop varieties. Their genes, protected as intellectual property, are exempt from use in research at universities and by plant breeders and small seed companies.

The Mission:

The Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) is dedicated to maintaining fair and open access to plant genetic resources worldwide in order to ensure the availability of germplasm to farmers, gardeners, breeders, and communities of this and future generations.

Choosing to purchase freed seed and saving seeds reduces reliance on large seed companies. Since 2013 Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta have controlled half the global market for the seed industry through seed company acquisitions, biotech acquisitions and joint ventures. They are in direct competition with the idea of seed sovereignty. Seed sovereignty “reclaims seeds and biodiversity as commons and public good. The farmer’s rights to breed and exchange diverse open source seeds which can be saved and which are not patented, genetically modified, owned or controlled by emerging seed giants.”

These chemical companies create genetically modified seeds to use in conjunction with the pesticides they manufacture. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds are genetically resistant to glyphosate, the main chemical in Monsanto’s Roundup. When farmer’s violate patents by saving and replanting seed they hurt Monsanto’s business model by not being reliant on purchasing new seed every year. As a large and powerful company Monsanto frequently attacks seed savers through investigations, coerced settlements and lawsuits in order to maintain control of the global commercial seed market.

This spring support open source seeds and purchase from OSSI partners and small independent seed companies.