From land enclosures to lab enclosures: digital sequence information, cultivated biodiversity and the movement for open source seed systems

Abstract

4th Industrial Revolution technologies that blur the lines across physical, digital and biological domains have entered seed systems. The digitalisation of seeds' DNA is generating the unstoppable growth of big data on digital sequence information (DSI). The paper analyses the legal vacuum for DSI, which aggravates the dematerialisation and fragmentation of seed, rendering it easier to control under legal, technological, social and logistical enclosures. Open-source seed is explored as a governance mechanism across physical and digital spheres. DSI emerges as a critical juncture for seed movements, revealing how the construction of seed and food sovereignty is a digital and technological affair.