Open-source agriculture
C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Open-Source Agriculture, ISB News Report, December 2005. Excerpt by Peter Suber (OA News Blog):
"Computer software is amenable for duplication, modification, and improvement and therefore has greater utility and value … DNA as well. Sharing software freely has enabled the open-source movement and has led to numerous innovations in operating systems and products. What about open-sourcing DNA–is that the key to agricultural innovation and feeding an ever-growing population? One person who thinks so is Richard Jefferson, of GUS reporter gene fame, who is the director of CAMBIA and its new offshoot, BiOS (Biological Innovation for Open Society). BiOS and other organizations such as PIPRA (Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture) are promoting open access to biological innovations targeted to agricultural improvement, especially for crops most important to the developing world. Currently there are relatively few companies, located mainly (about 75%) in the private sector, that hold patents on crucial agricultural biotechnologies; however, Jefferson believes those few companies could be using those patents to "dominate then destroy an industry." Alternatively, he is advocating parallel engineering -–that is, the creation of redundant inventions to endow freedom to operate. A perfect example of this is the TransBacter system -–the ‘new Agro'3–in which bacteria other than Agrobacterium tumefaciens were shown to transfer DNA stably into plant genomes. Indeed, CAMBIA is providing free access to Sinorhizobium meliloti, Mesorhizobium loti, and Rhizobium sp. NGR234 as Agrobacterium alternatives. Much work remains to increase the transformation efficiency provided by these bacteria, but the research is seminal. CAMBIA allows researchers to use these bacteria for free in non-profit and for-profit research and product development; but, in return, the recipient must pledge to make any subsequent improvements freely accessible to others....Whether the CAMBIA/BiOS, PIPRA, or some other organization ultimately succeeds in facilitating increased access to the biotechnological tools of agricultural science, the beginning of the 21st century should be noted for initiating these important steps toward agricultural equity between North and South. Who knows what will eventually work, but matters as weighty as political instability, mass starvation, and world economic depression could weigh in the balance of the eventual outcome."
"Computer software is amenable for duplication, modification, and improvement and therefore has greater utility and value … DNA as well. Sharing software freely has enabled the open-source movement and has led to numerous innovations in operating systems and products. What about open-sourcing DNA–is that the key to agricultural innovation and feeding an ever-growing population? One person who thinks so is Richard Jefferson, of GUS reporter gene fame, who is the director of CAMBIA and its new offshoot, BiOS (Biological Innovation for Open Society). BiOS and other organizations such as PIPRA (Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture) are promoting open access to biological innovations targeted to agricultural improvement, especially for crops most important to the developing world. Currently there are relatively few companies, located mainly (about 75%) in the private sector, that hold patents on crucial agricultural biotechnologies; however, Jefferson believes those few companies could be using those patents to "dominate then destroy an industry." Alternatively, he is advocating parallel engineering -–that is, the creation of redundant inventions to endow freedom to operate. A perfect example of this is the TransBacter system -–the ‘new Agro'3–in which bacteria other than Agrobacterium tumefaciens were shown to transfer DNA stably into plant genomes. Indeed, CAMBIA is providing free access to Sinorhizobium meliloti, Mesorhizobium loti, and Rhizobium sp. NGR234 as Agrobacterium alternatives. Much work remains to increase the transformation efficiency provided by these bacteria, but the research is seminal. CAMBIA allows researchers to use these bacteria for free in non-profit and for-profit research and product development; but, in return, the recipient must pledge to make any subsequent improvements freely accessible to others....Whether the CAMBIA/BiOS, PIPRA, or some other organization ultimately succeeds in facilitating increased access to the biotechnological tools of agricultural science, the beginning of the 21st century should be noted for initiating these important steps toward agricultural equity between North and South. Who knows what will eventually work, but matters as weighty as political instability, mass starvation, and world economic depression could weigh in the balance of the eventual outcome."
posted by Israel Scholar | 8.12.05
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