At a time when the monopolization of genetic resources by corporations is reducing diversity and limiting the variety of seeds available to farmers and gardeners, OpenSourceSeeds is licensing seeds to make them available to the commons in perpetuity. Working within German laws, they developed a licensing agreement with the express purpose of creating a new repository of genetic material for farmers worldwide to access. Dr. Johannes Kotschi, one of the leaders of this initiative explains how the licensing came about, how it protects the seeds, the farmers, and the seed's genetics, and how others are using their process to license bees, animals and microorganisms so they remain available to the "commons" and out of the control of corporations.
