Fair Seeds for Farmers Act

Key Points

• The bill would stop companies from using broad federal patents to control plant varieties, limiting protection to only two specific laws: the Plant Variety Protection Act and the Plant Patent Act of 1930.
• Contracts that ban farmers from saving and replanting seeds from their harvest would become legally unenforceable, ending a common industry practice that forces farmers to buy new seed every season.
• Researchers and breeders would also be protected from contracts that try to stop them from studying, breeding, or experimenting with patented plant material.
• The changes only apply going forward, to new patent applications and new contracts signed after the law takes effect, so patents companies already hold would not be affected.
• Plant breeders would still be able to get protection under the two named laws, the Plant Variety Protection Act and the Plant Patent Act, just not under the broader utility patent system.