Bill lets farmers save and breed seeds without legal trouble.
S. 5104 — Fair Seeds for Farmers Act · Filed by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 23, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill stops the federal government from giving patent protection to plants and seeds. It also cancels contracts that ban farmers from saving seeds or breeding plants they own. The rule applies to new patents and contracts signed after the bill passes. Old patents stay in place.
Who it affects
Farmers and seed-savers can now save and breed seeds without breaking a contract. Seed companies lose the power to stop farmers from replanting seeds they already own.
One thing to notice
The bill only stops new patents and contracts signed after it passes. Patents and contracts made before the bill passes stay in force.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Jul 23, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 23, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the 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 legal right that lets one person or company own an invention.
- breed — To grow new plants from seeds or plant parts you already own.
- contract — A written agreement between two people or groups about what each must do.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,694 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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