Fair Seeds for Farmers Act

Sponsor: Elizabeth Warren (Democratic-MA)July 23, 2026

AI-generated ?

Report an error

Introduced

In Committee

Passed One Chamber

Passed Both Chambers

Signed into Law

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Limits plant patents and seed contract rules to give farmers more freedom with seeds.

This bill would change federal rules for plant patents and seed contracts. It would make it easier for farmers and researchers to save seeds and use plant material for breeding without facing certain legal restrictions. This means seed companies would have fewer ways to protect their plant inventions through broad patents or restrictive contracts.

What Would Change

Today, companies can get broad utility patents for plants and use contracts to limit how farmers and researchers use plant material, including saving seeds. After this bill, federal intellectual property protection for plants would be limited to only two specific laws (the Plant Variety Protection Act and the Plant Patent Act of 1930), and new contracts that limit seed saving, research, or breeding would not be enforceable.

Key Provisions

Blocks most federal intellectual property protection for plants, plant varieties, and plant germplasm, allowing only two specific laws to apply.
Stops companies from enforcing new contracts that limit how farmers and researchers use plant material for breeding, research, seed saving, or propagation.
Applies these new limits to patent applications for plants that are pending or filed after the bill becomes law.
Applies the ban on contract enforcement to any new agreements made after the bill becomes law.
Does not change the validity of any plant patents that were issued before the bill becomes law.

View on Congress.gov

S 5104 · 119th Congress · July 23, 2026 · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 9/10

Fair Seeds for Farmers Act

What Would Change

Key Provisions

Lobbying Activity