b'AMERICAS IP FRAMEWORK IS SQUEEZING OUT INDEPENDENT SEED COMPANIES, IPSA SAYSIn a letter to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, the U.S.-based Independent Professional Seed Association calls the countrys current business environment a threat to American competitiveness.Marc ZienkiewiczIN A LETTERto Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, the U.S.-basedIPSA notes that in 1992, there were 12 major multina-Independent Professional Seed Association (IPSA) callstional companies involved in crop protection inputs for the countrys current business environment a threat torow crops, including seed. Today, that number is four. In American competitiveness. that same period, the market has lost 100 independent IPSA is calling for an overhaul of the countrys intellec- seed companies in the United States.tual property (IP) laws, branding the current IP frame- Not only did the corn and soybean seed market con-work as a threat to American competitiveness in seed andsolidate, but ownership also moved outside of the United beyond. States. With consolidation in the agriculture industry, our Thats according to IPSA CEO Todd Martin, whobusinesses remain under constant threat, as does American recently penned a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tomcompetitiveness, IPSA goes on to say in the letter.Vilsack on behalf of IPSA members in response to theIn an interview with Seed World Group, Martin says USDAs request for comment on the intellectual propertyindependent seed companies are being hit hard by a system as it regards seed and other agricultural inputs. business environment that is getting harder to operate The request for comment is related to President Joein, in part due to the IP framework that he says allows Bidens 2021 executive order seeking to address what itcompanies to increasingly control a bigger portion of calls the trend of corporate consolidation throughout thegermplasm.economy. Were in a business environment where four compa-American agriculture has enjoyed a century of innova- nies control the major germplasm in cotton and corn and tion. Innovative plant breeding brought forth corn hybrid- control all the vital technology in those crops, plus soy-ization. We have seen additional productive measuresbeans. Its an extreme level of competition and an extreme brought forth in synthetic fertilizers, pest control systemslevel of concentration of competition, Martin says.and mechanization. But there has been no parallel to theIn the letter, IPSA notes that four corporations account consolidation of the agriculture industry since the bio- for 85 per cent and 76 per cent of corn and soybean seed technology revolution during the 1990s, IPSA says in themarkets. Furthermore, genetically modified seed prices letter. rose more than 700 per cent between 2000 and 2015.Even more concentrated is the ownership of corn elite germplasm. About 90% of the commercial varieties are owneddirectly or indirectly through licensingby two companies. Bayer Crop Science recently declared its germplasm ownership share at 55 per cent and 35 per cent can be attributed to Cortevaa concentration far higher than in any other country, the letter notes.Caught in the MiddleIn the middle of all this are independent seed companies that license intellectual property in the form of traits and genetics from these suppliers, and also compete against these suppliers in the marketplace.Small businesses, which include independent seed companies, are real economic engines in communities. They create real jobs. They generate real economic ben-efits much more so than corporations do with their thou-sands of people employed. Were talking about millions of people in the United States employed by small busi-8GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2022'