Cooperatives

A cooperative (co-op) is a partnership between two growers on Ohtli who freely exchange plants and seeds with each other. On the platform, it has one function: it lets you register offspring from each other's plants. If your co-op partner has a tomato you want to cross with yours, their entity shows up in your parent picker.

The main thing a co-op does is grant seed exchange rights. When you register a new bred entity on Ohtli, you normally can only select your own entities as parents. With a co-op, your partner's entities also appear in the parent picker.

This means if your co-op partner has a registered tomato you want to cross with yours, you can select their entity as a parent when registering the offspring — no need to transfer ownership, no need to be in the same club.

Your partner's entities appear in a separate section in the parent picker, labeled with their display name, so you can always tell which entities are yours and which are theirs.

Breeding rights are immediate. As soon as a co-op request is accepted, both growers can use each other's entities as parents. If either grower leaves the co-op, the seed exchange rights end — but any entities already registered keep their lineage intact. Leaving a co-op never breaks existing parent-child relationships.

There are several ways to find and connect with co-op partners:

Search — The co-op page in your dashboard has a search bar at the top. You can search by display name, real name, or email. Results only show display names — your search helps you find the right account without exposing anyone's private information.

Grower profiles — Visit any grower's public profile and click "Request Co-op" next to the Follow button. This is the simplest way to connect with someone whose work you admire.

Suggestions — The co-op page shows growers you might want to connect with based on shared clubs, shared species, and mutual connections (friends of your existing co-op partners).

Your co-op page in the dashboard shows everything in one place: a search bar to find new partners, incoming and sent requests, and your active co-op connections.

Sending a request — Search for a grower or visit their profile and click "Request Co-op." They will see your request on their co-op page.

Accepting a request — When someone sends you a co-op request, it appears in your Incoming Requests section. Click "Accept" to start the co-op or "Decline" to remove the request.

Canceling a request — If you sent a request and changed your mind, click "Cancel" before the other person accepts.

Leaving a co-op — Click "Revoke" on any active partner to end the co-op. This immediately removes seed exchange rights in both directions. Existing entities and their lineage are not affected.

Co-ops are built on mutual trust. When you accept a co-op request, your real name (the name on your account) becomes visible to your partner on their co-op page. This is the only place your real name is shown — it is never displayed publicly.

This works both ways: you can also see your partner's real name. The idea is that co-op partners are people you know and trust in real life — the platform reflects that trust by sharing a bit more context than it would with strangers.

Your real name is only visible to active co-op partners. If either person leaves the co-op, the name is no longer visible. Pending requests do not reveal real names.

Co-ops do not share location data, entity details beyond what is already public, or any other private account information. The only additional access granted is seed exchange rights and real name visibility.