Patents increasingly undermine the strong legal edifice patiently constructed by UPOV (1).The Treaty guarantees free access to the main industrial resource of plant breeders - peasants’ seeds collected from farms across the world. This article argues that broadening the reach of patents over genetic resources is increasingly replacing benefit sharing, which undermines the multilateral governance of our common heritage. It concludes that the Treaty offers a new legal basis to govern access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and to compel industry to pay its dues.