USDA report highlights harms of seed consolidation
A new report released earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture finds that seed industry consolidation and restrictive intellectual property regimes are stifling small, independent, and public seed breeding programs. No paywall
Farmers want open-source farm equipment
Farmers are calling for free access to the software that runs their tractors and other farm equipment. "You're paying for the metal but the electronic parts technically you don't own it. They do," says Kyle Schwarting, a farmer in southeast Nebraska.
USDA tech report: 51 patents in 2013
The Agriculture Department received 51 patents and unveiled 180 inventions during fiscal 2013, according to its annual Report on Technology Transfer.