Who Really Owns The Seeds That Feed Us
The seeds in your garden tell a story about power, resilience, and the future of our food. It’s a story most people don’t know they’re part of.
Just four corporations—BASF, Bayer/Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, and Corteva Agriscience—control over two-thirds of global seed sales. This concentration of ownership has happened rapidly, consolidating what was once a network of thousands of local seed producers.
The consequences are profound and often invisible.
The Vanishing Diversity Crisis
When seed companies merge or get acquired, they typically streamline their offerings. Varieties that don’t sell in high volumes get discontinued. Varieties that don’t ship well or store long enough for global distribution disappear from catalogs.
The numbers are staggering. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 75 percent of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000. That’s three-quarters of our agricultural genetic heritage—gone in a single century.
This isn’t just about having fewer options at the garden center. It’s about resilience.
When climate patterns shift, when new diseases emerge, when growing conditions change—genetic diversity becomes our insurance policy. Different varieties contain different traits that might thrive under new conditions.
Without diversity, our food system becomes increasingly vulnerable.
The Seeds of Resistance
The good news? A growing movement of gardeners, farmers, and organizations is working to reclaim seed sovereignty.
Organizations like the Open Source Seed Initiative are creating protected commons for seeds—ensuring that some varieties remain freely available to grow, save, and share. Their model, inspired by open-source software, prevents patents from restricting access to essential food crops.
Community seed libraries have emerged across the country, allowing gardeners to “check out” seeds, grow them, and return fresh seeds after harvest.
Seed swaps bring neighbors together to exchange locally-adapted varieties and knowledge.
The Going To Seed network is collecting seeds from all over the United States, mixing like kind seeds together then redistributing them to the people that shared seeds.
These grassroots efforts represent more than nostalgia or hobby gardening. They’re rebuilding local food resilience from the ground up.
Why Your Garden Matters
Every time you save seeds from your garden, you’re participating in an ancient tradition that predates corporate agriculture by thousands of years.
You’re also doing something revolutionary.
When you save seeds from plants that thrive in your specific growing conditions, you’re developing varieties uniquely adapted to your local environment. After just a few generations, these seeds often outperform commercial varieties in your garden.
This process—selecting and saving seeds from your best-performing plants—is how humans developed all our food crops. It’s how we’ll develop crops for a changing climate.
Your garden becomes a living laboratory for agricultural adaptation.
Three Steps Toward Seed Sovereignty
1. Start simple. Begin with easy crops for seed saving like beans, peas, lettuce, and tomatoes. These largely self-pollinate, making them straightforward for beginners.
2. Connect locally. Find seed swaps, seed libraries, or community gardens in your area. These networks amplify individual efforts and preserve regional adaptations.
3. Share knowledge and seeds. The most valuable thing you can pass along isn’t just seeds—it’s the understanding of how to save, store, and grow them successfully.
Moving Forward
The corporate consolidation of our seed supply happened gradually, almost invisibly. The restoration of seed diversity and sovereignty will happen the same way—one garden, one saved seed packet, one shared skill at a time.
But unlike the consolidation, this movement builds resilience rather than reducing it.
Every seed you save carries genetic information shaped by millions of years of evolution and thousands of years of human selection. When you save that seed, you’re not just planning next year’s garden.
You’re helping write the next chapter in our relationship with food.
You’re becoming part of the story of who really owns the seeds that feed us.
And that story is still being written—one garden at a time.
Listen below for a more in depth conversation.