La Pampa: The Ministry of Production participated in the national debate on the Seed Law

Officials from the La Pampa’s Directorate of Agriculture were present at the meeting convened by the Federal Investment Council, during which the provinces analyzed the key points of an eventual regulatory reform on seeds, with special attention to the right to own use and its impact on producers.

The Federal Investment Council (CFI*) summoned the provinces to a debate on the reform of the Seed Law No. 20,247 and Argentina’s eventual accession to the UPOV 91 Act (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants*). The Ministry of Production of La Pampa participated in the meeting through the Director of Agriculture, Natalia Ovando, and the Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sergio Baudracco.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Production of La Pampa, Fernanda González, told to the Provincial News Agency that La Pampa “cannot be absent in the areas where the regulatory framework of one of the main strategic inputs for our producers, such as seed, is defined. Any modification in the rules that govern its use, and that may have a direct impact on provincial productive activity, must be analyzed responsibly and fundamentally, with a federal perspective that guarantees the active participation of the provinces.”

González emphasized that “it is not acceptable that an issue of this magnitude advances without due treatment in institutional areas such as the Federal Agricultural Council (CFA), which is the natural space to build consensus and safeguard federalism in decision-making.” The debate convened by the CFI revolves around two historically sensitive issues for the sector: the control of seeds and the scope of own use, currently recognized as a free right of the producer in Article 27 of Law No. 20,247. This right allows producers to reserve part of their harvest for replanting in the following season.

Accession to UPOV 91 would imply moving towards a more demanding international standard in terms of breeders’ rights, i.e. companies and institutions that develop new plant varieties, which could restrict or condition their own use as it is currently practiced.

Ovando, meanwhile, explained that some axes analyzed during the day were related to “segmentation by producer size, oversight, financing of research and development through royalty funds, and the relationship between private contracts and the new regulatory framework. The experience of countries such as Brazil and Uruguay, which achieved effective frameworks for the protection of intellectual property, without formally adhering to UPOV 91, was analyzed.”

The National Government announced at the Opening of Legislative Sessions of 2026 the sending of a bill to adhere to UPOV 91. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Production will closely follow the progress of this initiative in Congress and will continue to participate in the federal debate spaces, with the aim that La Pampa has updated information to evaluate the different possible scenarios, as reported by the Provincial News Agency

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