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Frank Morton has been breeding lettuce since the 1980s. His company offers 114 varieties, among them Outredgeous, which last year became the first plant that NASA astronauts grew and ate in space.
For nearly 20 years, Morton's work was limited only by his imagination and by how many different kinds of lettuce he could get his hands on. But in the early 2000s, he started noticing more and more lettuces were patented, meaning he would not be able to use them for breeding. The patents weren't just for different types of lettuce, but specific traits such as resistance to a disease, a particular shade of red or green, or curliness of the leaf.
Such patents have increased in the years since, and are encroaching on a growing range of crops, from corn to carrots — a trend that has plant breeders, environmentalists and food security experts concerned about the future of the food production.
https://ensia.com/features/open-source-seeds/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:32AM
So you have a few hundred acres that you plant in alfalfa.
Hopefully it seems worth it to plant some in the heirloom seed? Yes I know It's a pain in the ass when youre actually planting it, to stop, throw in a bag or two in the drill of all those weirdo seeds. And mark the areas. and maybe plan for buffer areas to keep the Roundup-Ready plants isolated from the heirloom seed, whether planting a belt of orchard grass buffer, whatnot. yes, more work still,.
Chances are you might do it occasionally bevause the seed guy is trying to get people like you to plant test blocks anyways. Certainly wheat, cirn & bean farmers do this.
It's ok to say it is all too much of a PITA. But it could be kinda fun too...