This judgment establishes powerful legal precedent globally, affirming that the ancient right of farmers to save and share seeds supersedes commercial interests, reshaping the legal balance of power between communities and agribusiness worldwide.
There are plenty of universities in the world that actively research and freely share their hybrid, advanced cultivars. Not everything needs to be somebody’s property. Knowledge can be and is freely shared.
The problem is that hybrid seeds require seperate production, being hybrids.
The greenpeace article is actually kinda crap, because this whole thing isn’t the usual “Farmers aren’t allowed to pirate these fancy modern seeds”, it’s because the Kenyan law was that farmers literally couldn’t share ANY seeds, including 200 year old heirloom crops. A farmer could literally be fined if they gave a home-grown tomato to their neighbor, because they’re not a seed company. And that’s obviously absurd, and we should applaud it being stopped.
There are plenty of universities in the world that actively research and freely share their hybrid, advanced cultivars. Not everything needs to be somebody’s property. Knowledge can be and is freely shared.
The problem is that hybrid seeds require seperate production, being hybrids.
The greenpeace article is actually kinda crap, because this whole thing isn’t the usual “Farmers aren’t allowed to pirate these fancy modern seeds”, it’s because the Kenyan law was that farmers literally couldn’t share ANY seeds, including 200 year old heirloom crops. A farmer could literally be fined if they gave a home-grown tomato to their neighbor, because they’re not a seed company. And that’s obviously absurd, and we should applaud it being stopped.
They haven’t really changed anything else.