The Open Source Seed Initiative and Its Potential Role in Supporting Organic Seed Systems

The Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) has been developed over the past two years by a working group of plant breeders, farmers, non-profit agencies, seed advocates, and policy makers. A complete list of participants can be found on a poster presented at this conference. The OSSI is dedicated to maintaining fair and open access to plant genetic resources worldwide. The OSSI supports innovative plant breeding that produces resilient and productive cultivars. Enabling the open exchange of germplasm, with no restrictions on further breeding, is crucial to this new agriculture. The OSSI will work toward achievement of: 1) a germplasm licensing framework with no breeding restrictions on the germplasm released through its auspices other than that derivatives must also be released with the same license; 2) a robust, vibrant, and well-supported public plant breeding sector producing germplasm and cultivars that can be equitably grown, sold, changed, and distributed; 3) a plurality of sources for farmers, gardeners, and breeders to obtain seed; 4) integration of the skills and capacities of farmers with those of plant scientists for enhancing and enlarging participatory plant breeding; and 5) respect for the rights and sovereignty of indigenous communities, and of farmers and farm communities, to play a role in solutions to obtaining seed for food production. Three OSSI licenses have been drafted to enact the core principles described above, with a planned release date of these licenses in 2014. The objective of this presentation is to describe the framework that led to OSSI’s development and to highlight potential opportunities where OSSI may support organic seed systems.