60 I SEED WORLD EUROPE I SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | OCTOBER 2026 I llegal seed practices rarely make headlines. They do not unfold dramatically at border crossings or in televised raids. More often, they happen quietly, a parent line disappears, a hybrid is reproduced without authorisation, seed is multiplied outside agreed channels. Small acts, perhaps. But multiplied across markets and seasons, they distort entire value chains. That is precisely what the Anti-Infringement Bureau for IP Rights on Plant Material (AIB) set out to measure. The recently published ‘Impact & Insights Report 2023–25’ offers something the vegetable seed sector has long lacked: structured intelligence on infringement. Not anecdotes. Not rumours. Data. “Without structured detection and reporting, most infringe ment activity remains invisible,” says Ignacio Giacchi, managing director of AIB. “Increased visibility does not mean more crime, it means better intelligence.” AN 86% INCREASE, BUT NOT WHAT YOU THINK Between 2023 and 2025, infringement reporting increased by approximately 86%, rising from 29 reports in 2023 to 54 in 2025. At first glance, that number could be alarming. But AIB is clear: the rise reflects improved visibility, not necessarily a sudden explosion in wrongdoing. Over the past three years, AIB has systematically collected and analysed enforcement case data across multiple markets, transform ing isolated cases into structured intelligence. In other words, the sector is no longer operating in the dark. “For seed companies, the real risk is not knowing the actual extent of the problem,” Giacchi explains. “When we can measure it, we can manage it.” TRAINING AS A DETECTION ENGINE One of the most encouraging findings in the report is the link between training and reporting. Training activity increased by more than 200% since 2023, and reporting rose alongside it. Training, AIB stresses, does not create infringement. It converts unreported activity into actionable intelligence. “When people understand what illegal reproduction actually looks like, they recognise it,” says Basile de Bary, CEO of SAKATA Vegetables Europe and chairman of the AIB board of directors. “Training builds confidence. And confidence leads to reporting.” Nearly 40% of AIB’s training effort is directed not at member companies, but at authorities, ministries of agriculture, police, customs and seed inspection agencies, that focus is strategic. “Deterrence is created long before courtrooms,” Giacchi notes. “When authorities know what to look for, seed-related cases rise in priority.” The report provides a concrete example: following AIB training activities in Türkiye in 2024, inspections by the Antalya Provincial Directorate led to nurseries being examined and roughly 50% fined for irregularities. That is not reaction. That is structural change. THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH Perhaps the most sobering section of the report comes on page 23, where AIB addresses what it calls “the uncomfortable truth”. Illegal reproduction is not primarily driven by organised crimi nals at the margins. It is driven by actors within the value chain, growers, plant raisers, distributors and, at times, seed companies themselves. THE INVISIBLE LEAK IN THE SEED SECTOR HOW ILLEGAL SEED REPRODUCTION QUIETLY DISTORTS MARKETS, AND WHY THE ANTI-INFRINGEMENT BUREAU IS TURNING HIDDEN RISK INTO MEASURABLE DETERRENCE. BY: MARCEL BRUINS
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