Questions we get asked, answered plainly

What is SeedLinked’s mission?

SeedLinked exists to build a collaborative, transparent, and resilient seed ecosystem. By connecting field observations, grower experience, breeding knowledge, and digital tools, we help growers, breeders, seed savers, researchers, and seed organizations understand how varieties actually perform across diverse environments.

The goal is to democratize seed information, strengthen regional adaptation, and support food systems built on diversity and shared learning.

How does that support heritage and rare varieties?

A resilient food system depends on living crop diversity. We work with heritage seed networks, seed banks, public research programs, nonprofits, independent breeders, and community seed initiatives to test, describe, and revitalize rare, open-pollinated, regionally adapted, and farmer-selected varieties — by lowering the cost and complexity of tracking performance across many farms and microclimates.

What kind of company is SeedLinked?

SeedLinked Co. is a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation. Our charter commits us to building a global seed network based on collaboration, accessibility, and transparency; to fostering seed systems that are democratic and just; to supporting human and environmental health; and to delivering genetically diverse, regionally adapted seed to farmers everywhere.

That is a legal obligation, not a tagline. PBC law requires our directors to balance shareholder interests against the interests of everyone materially affected by the company and against our stated public benefit purpose — and our bylaws require us to report on that purpose to stockholders regularly.

Is SeedLinked owned or controlled by a large agricultural corporation?

No. Microsoft, Bayer, and Corteva are not SeedLinked shareholders. They hold no equity, no board seat, no voting control, and no privileged access to SeedLinked data.

Founders, early team members, advisors, and individual mission-aligned shareholders hold the clear majority of the company. In 2024 we opened ownership further to our own community through a crowdfunding round that brought in growers as shareholders. Outside investors are minority holders without control, and our stockholders’ agreement restricts share transfers to protect that independence.

Who sits on the board?

Nicolas Enjalbert, cofounder and CEO; Renee Vassilos, affiliated with The Nature Conservancy; and Monika Messmer, affiliated with FiBL. No outside investor holds a board seat.

How does SeedLinked make money?

Through software and service contracts with organizations that need to coordinate decentralized trials, participatory research, tasting evaluations, seed bank characterization, breeding networks, and multi-location variety evaluation. Growers create accounts for free. We use a sliding scale where we can, so nonprofit and farmer-led projects stay able to use the platform.

We are a small, deliberately lean public benefit company. SeedLinked has operated at a loss every year since its founding, founder compensation is modest by any standard, and the largest cost by far is building and maintaining the platform itself. We do not sell personal data, and no profit is extracted from grower data.

Does SeedLinked sell personal data?

No. We do not sell or rent personal data, and we do not share names, email addresses, or other personal data with third parties for marketing. Our revenue comes from software and service contracts.

Who owns trial data?

You own the raw trial data you enter. When you join a specific trial, your trial data may be shared with that trial’s designated manager — a researcher, breeder, seed producer, seed bank curator, network, or project facilitator — so they can evaluate cultivars and produce results.

SeedLinked holds a limited, non-exclusive, revocable licence to use and process that data in order to run the platform, display results, support research, improve the service, and generate aggregated or anonymized insights. That is an operating licence, not a transfer of ownership.

Can I access, export, or delete my data?

Yes. You can request access, correction, deletion, or portability of your personal data, and trial managers can export data for the projects they coordinate. When an account is deleted, we deactivate the profile and remove personally identifying information from active systems, with three narrow exceptions that keep collaborative research intact:

• Trial metadata — titles, descriptions, varieties, and overall results remain, to preserve scientific integrity.
• Contributions — reviews, ratings, photos, and comments stay attached to trials and varieties, but anonymized.
• Variety records — variety contributions remain in the permanent variety catalog.

How is privacy law handled?

SeedLinked is built to comply with applicable privacy law, including the EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA. Personal data for European users is hosted on secure servers in Ireland, and recognised safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses apply where data is accessed outside the European Economic Area.

Can accounts be suspended arbitrarily?

No. Under our Terms of Use, access may be suspended or terminated only where we reasonably believe someone has violated the Terms, engaged in unlawful activity, or created legal risk. It is a standard risk-management clause — not a way to remove growers or silence criticism.

Does SeedLinked force the triadic design on projects?

No. The triadic design is one option among several — useful when a project has many varieties, limited seed, and many participants. Trial managers choose the design that fits their crop, seed availability, network, and goals:

• Full set — every grower receives the same varieties.
• Subset — growers receive part of the full variety list.
• Triadic randomized — a small randomized subset plus a common check.
• Survey trials — growers enter the varieties they already grow.
• Single-site trials and tasting evaluations — often run with QR codes.
• Non-replicated collaborative trials — where participation and simplicity come first.

Does the platform replace traditional seed knowledge?

No. The strongest participatory seed work happens through relationships — field walks, tasting events, local knowledge, seed exchanges, and collective interpretation. SeedLinked gives that work a digital structure so observations aren’t lost across notebooks, spreadsheets, emails, and informal conversations.

What are SeedLinked’s limitations?

It isn’t right for every project. Digital access and literacy are real barriers. It is not a substitute for facilitation, field meetings, local governance, or collective interpretation, and some designs prioritize participation over full experimental replication. SeedLinked works best as a support tool inside a broader participatory process — not as the process itself.

Where does SeedLinked stand on open innovation?

We support open innovation where it strengthens public knowledge, regional adaptation, grower autonomy, and agrobiodiversity. Public and nonprofit projects can share results transparently with participants, partners, and public databases, and we support interoperability and data export so organizations are never locked in.

Is the software open source?

Not at present. We recognise that proprietary software raises legitimate questions, and we answer them through clear terms, privacy protections, export tools, public benefit governance, and open collaboration with nonprofit and public partners.

How do growers, seed banks, and community networks benefit?

By documenting variety performance, comparing adaptation across environments, preserving photos and observations, supporting seed bank characterization, coordinating tasting events, and sharing results back with participants — reducing crop risk and strengthening regional seed systems. It complements seed exchanges, field days, and farmer-led decision-making rather than replacing them.