Bill stops patent protection for seeds and lets farmers save crops.
H.R. 9681 — Fair Seeds for Farmers Act · Filed by Jim McGovern (D-MA) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill changes patent law. The government will not give patent protection to plants, plant varieties, or seeds. It stops companies from using contracts to ban farmers and researchers from saving seeds. It stops bans on breeding plants or experimenting with crops. These rules apply only to new patents and contracts signed after the bill becomes law. Old patents and contracts stay in effect.
Who it affects
Farmers and agricultural researchers gain the right to save and breed seeds. Companies lose some control over how farmers use their products. Universities and research groups can experiment with plants more freely.
One thing to notice
The bill only stops new patents and new contracts. Patents and contracts signed before the bill becomes law stay in force.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Jul 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 14, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- patent — A government grant that gives one person or company the sole right to make or sell an invention.
- patent protection — Legal rights that stop others from making, using, or selling a patented invention without permission.
- contracts — Written agreements between two or more parties that set out what each party must do.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,383 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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