Alternatives to conventional plant breeding and concentration of breeding in multinational companies exist, but plant varieties bred in organic breeding programmes are still rare. With the conventional breeding programmes investing increasingly in new GM technologies, it becomes more urgent to put the organic breeding initiatives on a broader basis. The interesting study “Who pays for the seeds” has analysed models to finance such an expansion of organic breeding activities. It will be presented by one of the authors, Johannes Wirz, who will also be available for discussions.
