This is a big year for the U.N. International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which ensures that seeds in most countries’ public seed or gene banks are widely available to farmers, scientists, and plant breeders everywhere. Negotiators will meet in November in Lima, Peru to try to update the treaty, which first passed in 2001. But this task is proving to be challenging. 

In our season finale, we learn about the main issues in the international plant treaty talks, why they are so contentious, and how all this impacts seeds and global food security. Host Laura Rosbrow-Telem speaks with key players in the negotiations, including Kent Nnadozie, the treaty's secretary. She also talks to Jasmina Muminovic, the head of genetic resources at Bayer Crop Science as well as the International Seed Federation's Coordination Group on Genetic Resources, which leads the seed industry’s participation in the treaty negotiations. We also get a better understanding of the technological advancements complicating the talks from Dave Bubeck,  a research director at Corteva Agriscience. Finally, we hear a lively debate about the negotiations from a World Seed Congress panel moderated by Jean-Paul Judson, the founder of NOWMORE. 

State of Seed is a show from the International Seed Federation, with production services by FP Studios.