terminator seednoun.
A sterile seed produced by a genetically modified plant to prevent farmers from reusing the seed for future crops.
Example Citation:
"The announcement recently by Monsanto, the giant American chemical company, that it will disavow use of the 'terminator' seed sterility technology is a welcome step toward assuaging some of these concerns, particularly in developing countries. Terminator technology prevents plants from producing fertile seeds, forcing farmers to buy more seed from a multinational corporation rather than using seed from the previous year's crop."
—Gordon Conway, "World is better served by the fruits of biotech seeds," The Houston Chronicle, October 25, 1999
Notes:
To Wired magazine's Jargon Watcher Gareth Branwyn for permission to use this phrase (which he described as the "agricultural equivalent of copyright protection").
