More and more plant breeders are looking to the future with concern when faced with the opaque European patent system and the growing number of granted patents. Patents can block the access to plant varieties or specific plant traits – the basic need for breeders and thus food sovereignty in Europe. Adaptation of plants is crucial to face changing climate conditions, new pests and diseases.
Even though traditional breeding methods are legally excluded from patentability, the European Patent Office (EPO) continues to grant patents in this field. Plus, even patents on new GMOs can negatively affect traditional plant varieties since patents have a far reaching effect.
One of the concerned breeders is Grietje Raaphorst-Travaille from the Netherlands from Nordic Maize Breeding. She worked on a variety of organic maize that is adapted to colder climates. Their variety is threatend by a patent granted to the German seed company KWS in 2022 that concerns traditional breeding. Loopholes in the legal texts have alredy led to 200 patents being granted on traditional breeding. An objection to the KWS patent, filed by the European coalition NO PATENTS ON SEEDS!, was rejected in 2024.
Patents can have far-reaching effects, affecting over 100 plant varieties, and it is almost impossible for breeders to obtain information about which plant characteristics or genetic variants are already affected by a patent. The research into this is extremely complex and often does not provide the answers needed to be able to work on new varieties. If more and more medium-sized and small breeders see their work threatened by the potential risk of a legal dispute with big seed companies, this could lead to even greater concentration in the seed market. This would of course also mean that the supply of diverse, regional crops and biodiversity in the fields would decrease significantly.
Tomato breeder Frans Carree from the Dutch organic breeder DeBolster faces similar challenges. The current patent system makes it very difficult for him to develop new tomato varieties that are resistant to a new virus (TBRFV or Jordan virus), for example. 20 patents have already been registered by 10 different companies. Politicians are therefore urgently called upon to close legal loopholes and preserve breeding work in Europe. This can be done by amending the EU Biopatent Directive 98/44, as well as the Implementing Regulations of the European Patent Convention, which forms the legal basis of the EPO.
Author: Johanna Eckhardt, No Patents on Seeds! project coordinator.
Article Originally Published in Bio Eco Actual International Yearbok 2024 – Trends 2025.
Subscribe to Bio Eco Actual Newsletter and be up to date with the latest news from the Organic Sector
Bio Eco Actual, International Organic Newspaper
Read the Bio Eco Actual International Yearbok 2024 – Trends 2025
