Growing food should present no legal problems. You plant seeds, care for the plants, harvest the food, then save some seeds for the next year. Right?

Not anymore. Big agribusinesses are enclosing the seed commons. Seed ownership has become complex, littered with regulation, copyright issues, forgery charges and corporate manipulation.

The following video gives a brief overview of the current “crazy seed situation” in Europe. Created by the Open Solutions Project, the video uses talking (and singing) potato people to explain the barriers that prevent growers from saving and re-sowing seeds. It also shines a light on a sane solution to the problem: public domain seeds.

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Creative Commons photo by furtwangl. Follow @CatJohnson on Twitter and Facebook