[P2P-F] Fwd: Fwd: Open Source Seed Initiative

Sun May 25 05:42:15 CEST 2014

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Anfang der weitergeleiteten E-Mail:

 *Von: *Jack Kloppenburg <jrkloppe at wisc.edu <mailto:jrkloppe at wisc.edu>>
> *Datum: *16. Mai 2014 16:47:10 MESZ
> *An: *Jack Kloppenburg <jrkloppe at wisc.edu <mailto:jrkloppe at wisc.edu>>
> *Betreff: **Open Source Seed Initiative*
>
> Good friends,
>
> Thank you all for contacting us about the Open Source Seed Initiative
> (OSSI) and our April 17 action.
>
> I apologize for this impersonal mass mailing. I would have preferred
> to contact each of you individually, but the number of you who want to
> know what OSSI is doing makes this collective response much more
> efficient. That we have heard from so many individuals and
> organizations around the world is very exciting - we can be a global
> movement to “free the seed”!
>
> On April 17, 2014, OSSI organized an action on the campus of the
> University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. We released seed of 36
> cultivars of 14 species, from seven breeders, under an open source
> “pledge.” In speeches at the event, OSSI’s “free” seeds were compared
> to the “indentured” seeds covered by IPRs. OSSI seed packets were
> distributed to the crowd, which then collectively read the pledge aloud.
>
> We received substantial press coverage. Social media then carried
> reports of our action around the world, which is likely how you
> learned of OSSI’s work. To learn more about OSSI and our action, go
> to OSSI’s web page at www.opensourceseedinitiative.org
> or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/opensourceseedinitiative
> A set of links to media reports on the April 17 action is on our web
> page, and a nice set of images of the April 17 action is available at
> http://ecals.cals.wisc.edu/2014/04/18/open-source-seed-
> rollout-draws-a-crowd/
>
> For more information on the April 17 action, see the attached pdf
> documents:
> “April 17 press release final” -  for a pre-action account, listing of
> breeders and cultivars
> “April 17 follow-up letter” - for a post-action account
> See also an extensive article by journalist Lisa Hamilton in the
> /Virginia Quarterly Review/  that has just been published and provides
> a third-party analysis of OSSI’s work:
> http://www.vqronline.org/reporting-articles/2014/05/linux-lettuce
>
> For those of you who want to go deeper, I also attach three documents
> that - when read in sequence - outline the thinking that has informed
> the development of OSSI. The sequence is “Kloppenburg 2010,”
> “Kloppenburg 2014,” Kloppenburg et al 2014.” That final document
> (“Kloppenburg et al 2014") is quite short and is especially important
> since it explains OSSI’s abandonment of efforts to develop a legally
> binding license and our subsequent commitment to an ethically
> sanctioned “pledge.”
>
> OK, so what is OSSI about and where are we going, and how might you be
> involved?
>
> The Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) was established in May, 2012,
> by a group of public plant breeders, small seed company plant
> breeders, farmer-breeders, and advocates for seed sovereignty. OSSI
> was formed in order to enhance vigorous innovation in plant breeding
> by the creation of a licensing framework for germplasm exchange that
> would preserve the right to unencumbered use of shared seeds and their
> progeny in subsequent use. We had hoped that we could develop a
> legally defensible license for germplasm in the way that the free and
> open source software movement developed its licenses.
>
> We spent nearly two years trying to develop a legally defensible
> license. While we found that we could write a legally defensible
> license, we also found that it would be unworkable for a variety of
> reasons (these reasons are outlined in “Kloppenburg et al 2014"). In
> summary, the legal requirements of the license are so complex as to
> make transmission of the license impractical and unlikely. Second,
> drawing as it would on the legal “tools of the master” (see
> “Kloppenburg 2014"), a license is philosophically and politically
> unacceptable to many organizations, mostly but not entirely in the
> Global South (we are especially grateful to colleagues at GRAIN and
> ETC Group for helping us understand this perspective).
>
> In February of 2014, OSSI made the hard but considered decision to
> abandon efforts to develop a legally defensible license and to shift
> to a pledge. This moves OSSI’s discourse and action from the legal
> field to the terrain of norms and ethics. We have found this shift to
> be stimulating, reinvigorating,  and productive. The licensing
> approach was pulling us into a policing and bureaucratic orientation
> that was not congenial. Although our pledge is likely not legally
> binding, it is easily  transmissible, it is viral, it is an
> uncompromising commitment to free exchange and use, and it is a very
> effective tool for outreach and education. The pledge is printed on
> all OSSI-distributed packets and reads:
> *“This Open Source Seed Pledge is intended to ensure your freedom to
> use the seed contained herein in any way you choose, and to make sure
> those freedoms are enjoyed by all subsequent users. By opening this
> packet, you pledge that you will not restrict others' use of these
> seeds and their derivatives by patents, licenses, or any other means.
> You pledge that if you transfer these seeds or their derivatives you
> will acknowledge the source of these seeds and accompany your transfer
> with this pledge.”**
> *
> The response to our April 17 action appears to confirm our decision to
> go with a pledge rather than a license. Not only have we received
> expressions of support from around the world, we have received over
> 300 orders for OSSI’s free (as in speech, not as in beer!) seed from
> 14 countries. There is clearly substantial interest in the US and
> internationally in what OSSI is doing. The potential for advocacy is
> enormous. Further, the demand for, and willing ness to pay for, OSSI
> seed was unexpected and substantial. This demand is likely not
> principally related to the agronomic characteristics of the seed, but
> to its sociopolitical content. It would appear that there is very
> considerable potential for supplying a market for “free seed” that is
> analogous to the market for “fair trade.” The implication is that
> carrying “free” seed in a commercial seed catalog can be attractive to
> small seed companies.
>
> OSSI will proceed with its work in the United States. We emphasize
> that we have no intention of becoming a seed company or a distributor
> of seed. We hope to establish a brand and logo associated with our
> pledge. We hope that breeders, seed savers, seed libraries, gardeners,
> and farmers will choose to exchange and share materials using our
> pledge. We especially hope that small, independent seed companies will
> offer OSSI-branded seed as part of their regular product mix (as High
> Mowing Organic Seeds is doing now - see
> http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-midnight-
> lightning-zucchini.html).
> OSSI is envisioned as a vehicle for providing the organizing core of a
> network of free seed advocates.
>
> Here in the USA, OSSI intends to proceed now to:
> •    register OSSI as a nonprofit organization
> •    develop our web site as a resource for information on open source
> seed
> •    develop an OSSI “brand”
> •    send mailers of OSSI varieties to prominent people and
> organizations as outreach
> •    plan a second release of OSSI varieties for 2015
> •    work with our member seed companies to offer OSSI-branded cultivars
>
> While OSSI is US-based and US-oriented, there is clearly a large and
> global reservoir of interest in and support for “open source seed.”
> Can OSSI help facilitate development and growth of a global movement
> in support of free and open source seed?
>
> OSSI understands that thinking about application of open source
> mechanisms to seed has been going on all over the world for some time,
> and that conditions vary considerably by place and sociopolitics. We
> do not propose to insist on any particular approach. We have, however,
> engaged and thought through many of the issues  - practical and
> theoretical - that you are encountering and that you are asking us
> about. We hope that our experience will be useful to your own work.
> Responding individually to your comments and queries will take come
> time. Would it not be cool and productive if a bunch of us could get
> together at one place at the same time? Can we find funds to support
> an international  conference/workshop on free and open source seeds?
>
> After you process the information in this message and the attached
> documents, please let us hear from you. How can OSSI be useful to you?
> Can we build an international network?
>
> Please forward this material to anyone you think may be interested in
> OSSI or the movement to free the seed.
>
> Cheers to all.
>
> Jack
>
>
> --
> Jack Kloppenburg
> Professor, Department of Community and Environmental Sociology
> Director, GreenHouse Residential Learning Community
> Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
> 340A Agricultural Hall
> University of Wisconsin
> Madison, WI  53706  USA
> jrkloppe at wisc.edu
> jrkloppe at gmail.com
> Phone: 608-262-6867
> www.dces.wisc.edu/faculty/kloppenburg/index.php
>
> "Well," she said, "you have a high tolerance for lunatics, don't you?"
>

-- 
*Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no
record of previous communication, proposals, etc ..*

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