1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Every working American knows that the cost of putting food on the table has become an unsustainable burden. To truly lower grocery prices, Congress must address corporate overreach at the very beginning of our food supply chain: the commercial seed market. I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor and support H.R. 9681, the Fair Seeds for Farmers Act, recently introduced by Representatives Jim McGovern and Greg Casar. Right now, a tiny handful of multinational conglomerates control the vast majority of the seeds vital for growing our food. By abusing federal utility patents, these corporate giants prevent independent American farmers from exercising their traditional right to save, replant, and experiment with seeds. Instead, family farms are trapped in burdensome, anti-competitive contracts that force them to buy expensive new seeds every single season. Over the last few decades, seed prices have skyrocketed out of proportion with what farmers actually earn, and those artificial corporate markups are passed directly onto families at the grocery store checkout line. The Fair Seeds for Farmers Act offers a common-sense fix to start unrigging the system. It limits future seed patents to the protections already available under existing plant variety and plant patent law, and it legally protects the rights of farmers and researchers to save and breed seeds without fear of predatory corporate lawsuits. Because the bill applies only to new and pending patents and leaves existing patents in place, it won't unwind corporate control overnight - but it stops the next generation of seed patents from being written as broadly, and it opens the door for independent seed companies, public research programs, and farmers to compete on a fairer playing field going forward. Protecting independent family farms, restoring agricultural property rights, and building toward lower food costs are not partisan issues. Please stand up for American growers and consumers by backing the Fair Seeds for Farmers Act.