Europe’s seeds are being privatised by patents - and it could threaten food security

Europe has one of the most diverse seed industries in the world. In Germany, the Netherlands and France alone, hundreds of small breeders are creating new varieties of cereals, vegetables and legumes. 

Relying on decades of careful selection to improve desired traits like yield, disease resistance and flavour, they adapt seeds to local environments through methods like cross-breeding.

This legion of plant breeders help maintain Europe’s biodiversity and ensure that our food supplies stay plentiful. But their work is under growing threat from the patent industry.  

Although it’s illegal to patent plants in the EU, those created through technological means are classified as a technical innovation and so can be patented. 

This means that small-scale breeders can no longer freely plant these seeds or use them for research purposes without paying licensing fees.

Around 1,200 seed varieties that can be naturally bred are affected by patents across Europe, as agrochemical companies claim to create them through technical innovations. 

The little-known European Patent Office (EPO) grants those patents - an entity fully independent from Brussels and funded by corporate patent fees, whose decisions EU member states abide by.

Frans Carree, an organic breeder at Dutch company De Bolster, is trying to develop a tomato resistant to the brown rugose fruit virus, which can destroy entire harvests. But his efforts are being hindered by more than a dozen patent applications on this resistance from multinationals like BASF, Bayer and Syngenta. 

Although the patents have not been granted yet, they create legal uncertainty and a real risk that his investment would not pay off.

In order to develop his own virus-resistant tomato, Carree would need to