Editing Seed saving (section)

==Legality==

While saving seed and even exchanging seed with other farmers for [[biodiversity]] purposes has been a traditional practice, these practices have become illegal for the plant varieties that are patented or otherwise owned by some entity (often a corporation).<ref name="Mechlem"/> Under Article 28 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) [[Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights]] (the TRIPS Agreement), "planting, harvesting, saving, re-planting, and exchanging seeds of patented plants, or of plants containing patented cells and genes, constitutes use" and can in some cases be prohibited by the [[intellectual property law]]s of WTO Members.<ref name="Mechlem"/>

Significantly, farmers in [[developing countries]] are particularly affected by prohibitions on seed saving. There are some protections for re-use, called "farmer's privilege", in the 1991 [[International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants]] (UPOV Convention), but seed exchange remains prohibited.<ref name="Mechlem"/>

In the United States, seeds were first patented in the 1970s through the [[Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970]]. This was the beginning of a culture where people could control how the food system was created, altered and distributed to the public for consumption, and yields.

=== United States ===
Originally the farmer's privilege to save seeds to grow subsequent crops was considered protected by the [[Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970]]. American farmers, it was thought, could sell seed up to the amount saved for replanting their own acreage.<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btUdObukIDIC&pg=PA170
|title=Seeding Solutions
|author=The Crucible II Group
|year=2001
|publisher=IPGRI
|isbn=978-92-9043-499-3}}</ref>{{efn|The PVPA permits farmers to save seeds and grow crops from them without liability under the PVPA. However, if the seeds are also protected by a utility patent, that conduct becomes patent infringement. See ''[[Bowman v. Monsanto Co.]]''}}

That view came to an end in the latter part of the 20th century and early part of the 21st century, with changes in technology and law. First, in 1981 ''[[Diamond v. Chakrabarty]]'' established that companies may obtain patents for life-forms—originally genetically engineered unicellular bacteria.{{efn|The genetically engineered bacteria ate oil, as in oil spills.}} In 2002 ''[[J.E.M. Ag Supply v. Pioneer]]'' established that valid utility patents could be issued on sexually reproduced plants, such as seed crops (e.g., corn).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/search/display.html?terms=patent&url=/supct/html/99-1996.ZS.html | title=J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. V. Pioneer Hi-Bredinternational, Inc. (Syllabus) | access-date=2023-11-15 | archive-date=2023-11-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115145120/https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/search/display.html?terms=patent&url=/supct/html/99-1996.ZS.html | url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn|In that case J.E.M. was held liable because it resold purchased corn in violation of a "label license" forbidding resale or any use except planting a corn crop.}} In 2013 ''[[Bowman v. Monsanto Co.]]'' established that it was patent infringement for farmers to save crop seeds (soybeans in that case) and grow subsequent crops from them, if the seeds or plants were patented. Seed corporations are able to earn massive profits from this control over commercial seed supplies, and consequently further loss of control has been taken from US farmers over their farm production process.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mascarenhas|first1=Michael|last2=Busch|first2=Lawrence|date=2006-04-01|title=Seeds of Change: Intellectual Property Rights, Genetically Modified Soybeans and Seed Saving in the United States|journal=Sociologia Ruralis|language=en|volume=46|issue=2|pages=122–138|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9523.2006.00406.x|issn=1467-9523}}</ref>