This issue of Farming Matters presents cases that demonstrate the limited extent to which family farmers have been able to benefit from the ‘formal’ ABS process.

It also uncovers some of the effective principles and mechanisms for access and benefit sharing such as community seed banks, and successful collaborations between researchers and farmers.

Contains...

Access and benefit sharing of genetic resources for family farmers. Theory and practice by Robin Pistorius

Improving access to vegetable seeds for resilient family farms in Costa Rica by Lindsey Hethcote, Maarten van Zonneveld, William Solano, V. Ernesto Méndez and Nelly Vasquez

Access and benefit sharing in participatory plant breeding in Southwest China Yiching Song, Zhang Yanyan, Xin Song and Ronnie Vernooy

Evolutionary populations: Living gene banks in farmers’ fields in Iran by Maryam Rahmanian, Maede Salimi, Khadija Razavi, Reza Haghparast, Salvatore Ceccarelli and Ali Razmkhah

Seed banks and national policy in Brazil by Paulo Petersen, Gabriel Fernandes, Luciano Silveira and Emanoel Dias

Potato breeding in the Netherlands: successful collaboration between farmers and commercial breeders by Conny Almekinders, Loes Mertens, Jan van Loon and Edith Lammerts van Bueren

Implementing access and benefit sharing in eight countries by Ronnie Vernooy, Michael Halewood, Isabel López-Noriega, Gloria Otieno, Isabel Lapeña, Raymond Vodohue and Guy Bessette

“The ABS system could be a thousand times simpler” Robin Pistorius interviews Francois Meienberg

Industry benefits but does not pay its dues. Patents are an assault on genetic resources by Guy Kastler

Lessons for access and benefit sharing from community seed banks in India by Vanaja Ramprasad and Amelia Clements

Giving new life to peasant seeds in Ecuador by Ross Mary Borja and Pedro J. Oyarzún

Looking outside the box. Access and benefit sharing for family farmers in Zimbabwe by Bram de Jonge, Andrew Mushita and Patrick Kasasa

Learning from farmer-led access and benefit sharing Robin Pistorius, Janneke Bruil and Ronnie Vernooy