In recent decades, the world has witnessed a steady erosion of plant diversity in many countries, particularly those in the Global South that were once richly endowed with natural plant wealth. Much of this diversity has been removed from its original ecological and cultural contexts and transferred into gene banks concentrated in developed nations. While conservation of genetic resources is important, the problem arises when access to these collections becomes unequal, particularly when they fall under the control of transnational corporations.
These corporations have long recognized the immense commercial potential of germplasm and have systematically worked to monopolize it. The Food and Agriculture Organization once reported that a single company held nearly two-thirds of the world’s banana germplasm. Such control, driven primarily by profit motives, has raised deep concerns about its implications for farmers and the environment. The growing influence of biotechnology and the dominance of transnational corporations in this sector have only intensified these fears.
A small handful of agrochemical giants now control large sections of the global seed industry. Their seed production strategies are often tied to the sale of their own herbicides and pesticides, despite mounting evidence of environmental and health risks associated with these chemicals. Pat Roy Mooney, a leading researcher in this field, observed that “it is now less expensive to adapt the seed to the chemical than to design new chemicals for the seed.” This corporate approach focuses on creating genetically uniform, patentable seeds engineered to work in tandem with specific herbicides—locking farmers into cycles of dependence.
Mooney cited disturbing examples, such as an international company that introduced hybrid sorghum in Ethiopia, developed from seeds originally donated by local farmers. These hybrid seeds, coated with chemicals and designed to be non-reproducible, would have forced farmers to buy fresh seeds annually. Legal frameworks in some developed countries have further legitimized such monopolies. The 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing patents on genetically engineered microorganisms effectively opened the door to the privatization of life forms, making seeds and plants potential corporate property.
Equally troubling is the fact that even some international agricultural research centers—once committed to open access—are shifting toward patenting. Seedling magazine reported that institutions which led the Green Revolution, previously reliant on freely shared germplasm from developing countries, are now pursuing intellectual property rights to strengthen their bargaining power with biotech firms. In doing so, they risk abandoning decades of cooperative principles that supported agricultural innovation and food security.
Adding to these concerns, a recent paper by GRAIN, an organization that advocates for small farmers and ecological farming, has exposed the widespread misuse of seed laws to tighten corporate control over agriculture. The study, titled The Pitfalls of Trying to Protect Farmers’ Seeds Through Laws (August 2025), highlights how global seed industry consolidation has reached unprecedented levels, with just four companies controlling 56 percent of a US$50 billion global market. According to GRAIN, these corporations are using intellectual property and marketing laws to prevent farmers from saving, exchanging, or selling their own seeds, while pushing governments to adopt corporate-friendly “seed laws.”
These laws are often imposed through trade agreements, foreign debt conditions, or development aid, allowing powerful states and multinational firms to shape agricultural policies in weaker economies. As GRAIN notes, seed laws typically promote a uniform seed system dominated by companies and research institutes, sidelining traditional farmer varieties and reducing biodiversity. The drive for uniformity serves industrial agriculture and global trade rather than local needs.
The organization further explains how patents, plant variety protection (PVP) systems, and marketing regulations together consolidate corporate control. Patents can grant 20-year monopolies on seeds, breeding processes, or genetic sequences, preventing farmers from saving or reusing seeds and restricting breeders from conducting independent research. The PVP system, harmonized internationally through the 1961 UPOV Convention and its 1991 revision, grants companies exclusive rights over “new” and “uniform” varieties, effectively criminalizing traditional practices of seed exchange and reuse.
In countries such as Kenya, selling or exchanging non-certified seeds is treated as a criminal offence, illustrating the extreme reach of these laws. GRAIN emphasizes that such frameworks not only undermine farmers’ autonomy but also threaten agricultural innovation, biodiversity, and public research. The paper notes that in Southeast Asia, open-pollinated maize varieties grown by small farmers outperform genetically modified ones, and in Mexico, indigenous maize varieties still dominate, demonstrating that farmers’ seeds are both productive and resilient.
The combined trends of corporate consolidation, restrictive intellectual property regimes, and trade-driven policy coercion have created a deeply unjust agricultural system. By eroding farmers’ rights to save, share, and develop seeds, these laws and corporate practices undermine the very foundation of global food sovereignty.
It is vital that the world resists these monopolistic tendencies. Germplasm collections should remain accessible to the farmers and scientists of the developing countries from which much of this genetic wealth originated. International research institutions must reaffirm their commitment to open access, and governments must ensure that legal systems protect farmers rather than penalize them. The survival of biodiversity, the well-being of farmers, and the ecological balance of the planet depend on preserving farmers’ freedom to cultivate, share, and innovate with their own seeds.
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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children, When the Two Streams Met, and A Day in 2071
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