916: Seed Sovereignty in the Age of Corporate Control

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman

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In This Podcast: In this Seed Chat episode, Greg Peterson and Bill McDorman unpack how a handful of global corporations came to control most of the world’s commercial seed supply—and what that means for biodiversity, farmers, and local food systems. Bill traces the history from small regional seed companies to mergers, patents, and Supreme Court decisions that turned living seeds into corporate assets. They also spotlight the grassroots resistance: seed libraries, landrace and adaptation gardening, community seed sharing, and regional networks working to “liberate diversity.” Listeners walk away with both a clear understanding of the problem and very practical ways to grow, save, and share seeds as an act of food freedom.

Key Topics

• Seed sovereignty and community control of seed
• Corporate consolidation and mergers in the seed industry
• Loss of agricultural biodiversity and its consequences
• Capitalism and the “free market” meeting biology
• Patents, intellectual property, and the Diamond v. Chakrabarty decision
• Chemical companies and private equity in global agriculture
• European common catalog and whitelist/blacklist dynamics
• Seed libraries and local seed-sharing networks
• Landrace gardening and adaptation gardening (Joseph Lofthouse)
• Going to Seed, Seed Library Network, ETC Group, Let’s Liberate Diversity
• Great American Seed Up and Seed Up in a Box as local seed strategies
• Local food economies, resilience, and community wealth

Key Questions Answered

• How did we get from thousands of small regional seed companies to just a few corporations controlling most commercial seed?
• The episode traces a decades-long process of mergers, acquisitions, and the pursuit of patentable seed “assets” that could be put on corporate balance sheets, turning diversity built over 10,000 years into a narrow set of owned varieties.
• Why does the intersection of free-market capitalism and biology create such problems for seeds and farmers?
• Bill explains that when profit-maximizing logic is applied to living systems, everything that doesn’t immediately generate revenue—like locally adapted varieties and genetic diversity—gets discarded, even though it’s what makes agriculture resilient.
• What role did patents and legal decisions like Diamond v. Chakrabarty play in this consolidation?
• Once the Supreme Court allowed life forms “invented by humans” to be patented, seeds could be owned like machinery. That shift unlocked new financing for takeovers and accelerated consolidation, often at the expense of traditional, community-developed seed diversity.
• How are people and communities around the world pushing back and rebuilding seed sovereignty?
• The conversation highlights European and global movements like Let’s Liberate Diversity, ETC Group, and numerous nonprofits and seed networks that are preserving and sharing open-pollinated, locally adapted seeds outside of corporate control.
• What can individual gardeners and local groups actually do that makes a real difference?
• Listeners are encouraged to grow and save their own seeds, increase diversity in their gardens, participate in or start seed libraries, and plug into grassroots projects and classes that teach adaptation gardening and community-level seed work.

Episode Highlights

• At 00:04 — Greg and Bill introduce the theme of seed sovereignty in an age where a small number of corporations dominate the global seed supply.
• At 01:16 — Bill describes how traditional success metrics in agriculture hide a deeper story of burnout, consolidation, and loss of diversity.
• At 02:14 — He shares his early journey searching for the “golden boulder” of answers in the seed world, only to learn there is no single authority—just persistent, patient investigation.
• At 03:16 — Bill frames the core issue: when capitalism and free-market thinking collide with biology, the system fails living diversity.
• At 04:13 — He explains how mergers and acquisitions reduced an estimated 20,000 small seed entities worldwide down to a handful of corporate giants, with diversity being thrown out in the process.
• At 05:54 — The conversation turns to time, showing how large companies systematically patented seeds and used that patentable material as financial leverage for further consolidation.
• At 07:28 — Bill highlights the ETC Group and their work tracking corporate power, as well as Philip Howard’s visual maps of seed industry consolidation.
• At 08:46 — They explore how European policies like the common catalog wiped out many traditional varieties and triggered a strong civil society response to protect local seeds.
• At 09:21 — Bill and Greg shift to practical action: grow as much diversity as you can now, learn landrace and adaptation gardening, and use emerging networks like Going to Seed to accelerate learning.
• At 11:32 — They share how the Great American Seed Up model and seed libraries can rapidly distribute open-pollinated seeds into communities, building resilience from the ground up.

Calls to Action & Resources

• Urban Farm Podcast — Listen to more conversations with Greg and Bill on seeds, soil, and urban agriculture: https://urbanfarmpodcast.com
• Seed Chat (Live Events) — Join future live Seed Chat sessions and ask your questions in real time: https://seedchat.org
• Great American Seed Up — Learn about the Phoenix-based, bulk seed-sharing event and how it supercharges local seed resilience: https://greatamericanseedup.org
• Seed Up In A Box — Host your own mini seed-up using bundled open-pollinated seeds, info cards, and bags: https://seedupinabox.com
• Going to Seed — Explore landrace and adaptation gardening resources, classes, and community seed projects: https://goingtoseed.org
• Seed Library Network — Start or support a local seed library and connect with others doing the same: https://seedlibrarynetwork.org
• Let’s Liberate Diversity — European network focused on on-farm conservation and community seed work: https://liberatediversity.org
• ETC Group — Research and updates on corporate control of seeds and genetic resources: https://etcgroup.org
• “First the Seed” by Jack Kloppenburg — A foundational book on the political economy of plant breeding and seed ownership. https://uwpress.wisc.edu/Books/F/First-the-Seed
• Michael Shuman’s Work on Local Investing — Learn how redirecting capital into local food and farm systems can strengthen community resilience. https://michaelhshuman.com/
• Shattering by Pat Mooney and Carrie Fowler
• Diamond Vs Chakbarty - https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/447/303/
• There’s an ongoing international survey hosted by Let’s Liberate Diversity https://seeds.ifoam.bio/seed-network-survey
• Seeds & Genetic Diversity - https://www.etcgroup.org/issues/seeds-genetic-diversity
• ETC Group- https://www.etcgroup.org/issues/corporate-monopolies
• Adaptation Gardening - https://goingtoseed.org/products/1406309

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