Italian farmers launch seed-saving workshops to counter corporate monopoly
A five-year-old Italian farming network hosted a seed-saving workshop, promoting the exchange of non-patented seeds as a response to four agrochemical giants controlling more than half of the global seed market.
On August 7, a farmhouse in Italy’s Marche region became the venue for a seed-saving workshop organized by the five-year-old Rete per l’Agricoltura Naturale (RAN). The gathering, which filled up after a Facebook post generated more than 1,600 registrations, instructed growers on how to select, store and exchange vegetable seeds that cannot be patented. RAN’s Distributed Seed House network aims to create a community-based alternative to the corporate seed system dominated by Bayer, Corteva, Syngenta and BASF, which together command 56% of the world’s commercial seed market and 61% of pesticide sales.
Economists warn that a combined market share above 40% can distort competition, and the sector already exceeds the 60% threshold that typically invites heightened antitrust scrutiny. The workshop, led by agronomist Antonio Lo Fiego of Arcoiris Sementi Bio, follows a gift-economy model with no participation fee, and RAN intends to hold similar events throughout the 2026 calendar, all of which have been selling out quickly. The initiative draws on Article 9 of the FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, emphasizing farmers’ rights to save, use and exchange seeds amid growing concerns over biodiversity loss and corporate control.
Why it matters
It shows how farmers are organizing to protect seed diversity against corporate dominance that can limit choice and increase costs.
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