Financing Organic Plant Breeding—New Economic Models for Seed as a Commons

Abstract

Organic seed is vital for organic agriculture. However, organic plant breeding is not keeping pace with the increasing organic production, mainly because of a lack of sufficient financial resources. Therefore, the questions arose: what are the obstacles, and how can they be removed? An analysis of the situation in Europe revealed that royalties from intellectual property rights (IPRs) such as plant variety protection are inappropriate for organic seed. New additional financing strategies were developed based on the concept of seed as a commons, and the attitude of stakeholders in the food value chain towards an open source strategy was assessed. The conclusion is that dealing with seed as a commons is an indispensable feature of organic plant breeding. New financing strategies for this offer promising potential for organic plant breeding and an alternative to IPRs-based funding. It is essential to involve stakeholders along the entire value chain, including food consumers, in financing plant breeding. The successful introduction of a food label “open source and organic” could boost commons-based organic plant breeding financing. Generally, there is no single solution; the different strategies identified are complementary. Their validation requires further practical research and development.