Seed Sovereignty: America Must Never Depend on Rivals for Next Year's Crop
USDA's chief scientist says less than 10% of America's vast public seed collection has been sequenced, while China has been actively sequencing what it needs. In our view, the new $180 million Seed Sovereignty Initiative is a smart, overdue defense of American agriculture.
By Clara Hughes
ALTAS WORLD NEWS OPINION | By Clara Hughes, Chief Opinion Editor | October 9, 2026 | 5-min read Every harvest begins with a seed, and every seed carries a genetic code that someone, somewhere, had to find, keep and understand. America owns one of the great seed collections on Earth. Yet by the estimate of the Agriculture Department's own chief scientist, less than 10% of it has been genetically sequenced [2]. Meanwhile, he says, China "has been actively making accessions and sequencing what they need" [2]. On Tuesday in Jasper County, Iowa, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a $180 million Seed Sovereignty Initiative to close that gap [1][2]. In our view, it is a smart, overdue investment in a kind of national security most Americans never think about. Key Takeaways USDA will spend $180 million over two years to sequence major crop collections in the National Plant Germplasm System, which holds more than 600,000 accessions from over 16,000 species [1]. USDA says the genetic information in U.S. collections is "not fully sequenced" while "foreign competitors are actively acquiring and sequencing plant genetic resources from around the world" [1]. USDA is also expanding its agreement