Editing Plant breeders' rights (section)

== Seed sovereignty ==

Seed sovereignty can be defined as the right "to breed and exchange diverse open-sourced seeds".<ref>{{cite web |title=Seed Sovereignty |url=https://www.seedsovereignty.info/ |website=Seed Sovereignty |publisher=The Gaia Foundation |access-date=8 May 2020}}</ref>{{not in citation given |date=September 2023 |reason=Also, such information should not be sourced to an advocacy organization.}} Generally, it comes from the belief that communities should have control over their own seed stock, as a means to increase agricultural biodiversity, resilience, and food security. This idea is closely connected to issues of intellectual property rights, particularly related to the patenting of plant genetics, due to the importance of [[seed saving]] in seed sovereignty.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Winter |first1=Lauren |title=Cultivating Farmers' Rights: Reconciling Food Security, Indigenous Agriculture, and TRIPS. |journal=Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law |date=Jan 2020 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=223–254}}</ref> Activists argue that farmers and individuals should have legal protection for the practice for maintaining traditional plant varieties.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Raster |first1=Amanda |last2=Hill |first2=Christina Rish |title=The dispute over wild rice: an investigation of treaty agreements and Ojibwe food sovereignty |journal= Agriculture and Human Values|date=June 1, 2017 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=267–281 |doi=10.1007/s10460-016-9703-6|s2cid=55940408 |url=https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/language_pubs/154 }}</ref> Seed sovereignty activists also argue that seed saving should be protected on the grounds of environmentalism and food security.<ref>LaDuke, Winona. (2012). Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life, TEDxTC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNlel72eQc</ref> Some activists argue that seed sovereignty is important because of the cultural value of certain seeds and plant varieties, especially among indigenous communities.<ref>White, Rowen. (2018). The Native Seed Pod, Episode 1. https://www.nativeseedpod.org/podcast/2018/episode-1-the-natural-law-of-seeds</ref> Seed sovereignty has strong ties to the [[Food Justice Movement|food justice]] and [[food sovereignty]] movements, due to its focus on increasing food security for all communities.