Hi ,
For the last several months, we’ve been quieter with you than usual — and we owe you an explanation.
Behind the scenes, we've been working on something we believe will shape the future of the American seed industry: the launch of the American Seed Innovation & Growth Alliance (ASIGA): a coalition formed to challenge legislative changes scheduled to take effect in November 2026.
We deliberately chose not to raise alarm bells in your inbox until there was something real to stand behind. Now there is.
What this fight is — and what it isn’t.
We want to be clear about how ASIGA is positioned, because framing matters in Washington.
ASIGA’s political case rests on three pillars:
Innovation. Genetic diversity. American leadership.
The legislation due to take effect in November 2026 threatens all three. It risks narrowing the genetic pool US breeders can legally work with, slowing the pace of innovation that has helped put American seed companies at the front of a global industry, and ceding ground to overseas competitors who will be ready to fill the gap.
ASIGA is a broad coalition, including voices from industrial hemp, the seed genetics industry and home-grow. Seedsman remains fully behind our community and the right to preserve access, choice and plant knowledge — but the case being made on the Hill is about protecting an American industry, American jobs and American scientific leadership.
That is the case that can win votes. And that is the case ASIGA is built around.
What we've been doing.
For months, work has been happening quietly, persistently, and at a serious level in Washington.
ASIGA’s lobbying and communications group brings together experienced hemp policy advocates, former USDA officials and seasoned operators who understand how the Hill works.
The work is not glamorous: briefings, redrafts, relationship-building and the slow grind of getting the right facts in front of the right people.
But it is the work that moves the needle on legislation of this scale.
What's at stake?
If this law takes effect as planned, it could:
- Restrict access to essential genetic material
- Undermine breeding innovation and new cultivar development
- Damage legitimate operators and push activity underground
- Reduce consumer and patient safety
- Destroy jobs and investment across the supply chain
- Hand global leadership in hemp and cannabis genetics to Europe, Latin America and emerging Asian markets
The United States has the science, the agricultural infrastructure and the entrepreneurial base to lead this industry for the next decade.
This law threatens to close that future down before it begins.
Attached technical brief.
We have attached ASIGA’s two-page, technical brief for anyone who would like to understand the issue in more detail.
It explains the specific provision at the heart of the concern — Section 781’s seed exclusion — and why ASIGA believes it creates an unprecedented and unworkable standard by regulating cannabis seeds according to the THC level of the parent plant, rather than the seed itself.
The brief sets out the likely consequences for US breeders, seed banks, farmers, patients, interstate commerce and American leadership in genetics, and calls on Congress to act before the 12 November 2026 deadline.
The Technical brief is just the start of the information we’ll be keeping you up to date with. Coming soon is a full white paper, and if you support the ASIGA organization, you’ll receive regular updates as the campaign progresses, including full access to the white paper once it is released.
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Where you come in.
We held back from asking until there was something worth standing behind. There is now.
ASIGA has an active coalition, a strong team and meetings happening that simply would not have happened six months ago. To carry this through to November 2026, we need the wider community with us.
There are two ways you can help right now:
1) Contribute directly to the GoFundMe
Every dollar raised will support ASIGA's lobbying, legal and communications work, helping fund the campaign through the critical months ahead.
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2) Support ASIGA through your Seedsman Order
We have also added a dedicated ASIGA support seed option at checkout.
If you choose to purchase the “ASIGA seeds” with your order, Seedsman will donate the full value of those seeds to the ASIGA GoFundMe on your behalf.
It is a simple way to support the campaign while placing your order, with every dollar helping fund ASIGA’s lobbying, legal and communications work.
One last thing.
We’re sorry we haven’t brought you in sooner. The honest answer is that we wanted to wait until we had something credible, organised and worth standing behind.
We do now — and we would rather have you with us than reading about it after the fact.
Thank you for being part of the Seedsman community.
— The Seedsman Team
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