Seed companies want to ban farm-saved seed

the greed just never stops. at some point you'd think i'd stop being surprised.are they never gonna be sated? what will go after when they have everything?
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original-grain
New from GRAIN
16 February 2007

Seed companies want to ban farm-saved seed

Click here for further information / the full report.

A new report from GRAIN reveals the new lobbying offensive from the global seed industry to make it a crime for farmers to save seeds for the next year's planting.

BACKGROUND

Seed companies already have strong legal support from governments. In many countries, seed laws require farmers to use only certified seed of government-approved varieties. That seed is often available only from commercial seed companies.

A rapidly increasing number of governments also grant legal monopoly rights for commercial seed, by means of industrial patents and so-called plant variety protection (PVP). Until recently, both seed patents and PVP existed only in developed countries. But since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was created in 1994, all member governments must provide some form of monopoly rights on seeds. There is now enormous pressure on developing countries to adopt the developed country models. Many have been persuaded to join the international PVP system, managed by UPOV (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants). In the past ten years, UPOV has more than doubled its membership. Most new members are developing countries.

The UPOV system was originally set up in 1961, in response to many years of lobbying by the seed industry. What the companies really wanted was to have industrial patents on seeds. Patents give absolute rights to control all uses of the seed, both for planting and for further breeding. But at the time many governments felt that patents would give industry too much power over farmers. The UPOV PVP was created as a compromise. From the beginning, it gave seed companies a monopoly on only the commercial multiplication and the marketing of seeds. Farmers remained free to save seed from their own harvest to plant in the following year, and other breeders could freely use any variety, protected or not, to develop a new one.

During the 1980s, the development of genetic engineering attracted large transnational companies from the pharmaceuticals and chemical sectors into plant breeding. With their much greater lobbying power, they began a new offensive to strengthen monopoly rights on plant breeding in developed countries. First, they got industrial patents on plants bred with genetic engineering (GE) and related techniques. This meant, in practice, that they got the absolute monopoly that conventional breeders had been refused two decades earlier.
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complete report including links to more information and other sources here

n/t

There is a distinct small farm/organic farm movement in this country that is growing by leaps and bounds. It is a broad based movement, ranging from the Amish, to the back to nature folks, to the good ol' boys. More and more farmers are realizing that the way we're producing is both unsustainable and is harming both the land, nature, and the very root of farming itself, the farmer. This movement is slowly but surely gaining momentum.

I would love to see this ban enacted. It will only enrage the farmers even more, and won't prevent a damn thing. People will still save their seeds, albeit on the sly.

into being?

seeds for the garden that I plant and would be very sad to see this being compromised.

Many heirlooms are not certified organic, because they have been around so long and there is no clear proof of when they truly originated and how they were grown. (I comfort myself that any seed that first appeared in 1870-some was not being tampered with by Monsanto or sprayed with modern chemicals.) Once you grow them and learn to save the seed, you have a perpetual garden. By continuing heirloom seeds' life through growing and seed-saving, gardeners assist in maintaining a bio-diverse seed stock for everyone to enjoy. It's just something to think about in addition to organics.

Varieties that have maintained their characteristics over a long period are likely to have more natural resistance to insect and weather damage. Because they are open-pollinated, which means pollinated by natural means rather than a human intervention, they will reproduce true to the parent most of the time and retain the flavor attributes, growing habit, and resilience of the parents. Seed saving from F1 hybrids is riskier because the next generation (the F2 hybrids) are generally weaker, more prone to disease and lower yields.

I'm a seed saver by choice but farmers and kitchen garden growers in poor countries save seed for sustainability. They can't afford to buy new seeds every year. They don't save seed for fun. Ugh.

The very first thing I noticed when growing heirlooms was their sturdiness. They aren't always the prettiest things to look at, but they tend to yield well and have better pest tolerance, in my experience.

And as you point out, hobby gardeners have the luxury of saving seed by choice. I tend to save those varieties that really do well in my area. (I'm in one of the little pockets of Michigan that is Zone 6 vs. the Zone 5 of the rest of the state.) I buy a couple new varieties a year just to experiment, too.

Opression stirs rebellion everytime

I read the article and the first thing I thought was, 'salt law, anyone?'

n/t

Kill the poor.

Seriously. High on the priority list was not establishing security, rebuilding Iraq, or developing a democratic form of government.

First on the priority list was protecting Monsanto (and others) "rights" on their patented seeds and definition that farmers could not save seeds.

I just read Imperial Life in the Emerald City, and I don't recall reading about that particular bit of idiocy.

Don't have the links, as they are on a dead hard drive, but it definitely was on the list BEFORE we even went in. Thousands of years of selective breeding should give the FARMERS the rights to these seeds, not some company who bio-engineered the plants so they HAVE to buy seeds every year.

What's next? Charging for air? Patents on life itself?

--I don't know if I can find the original link.

breathe our air. Fair enough.

On one hand, they should have proprietary rights to their product, even when the seeds were produced from plants that grew from purchased seed. But when pollen from the plants fertilize plants from neighboring fields, then in my view all bets are off so long as the neighboring grower does not market the resulting seeds.

There is also the issue of their pollen contaminating organically grown crops growing nearby. There should be some regulating body addressing this, perhaps by creating organic "zones".

this isn't talking about just GMOs, which oughta be banned anyway, we're talking conventional seeds here and traditional practices for millenia. no, this is way over the top of commonly accepted practice or industry standards.

For once, words really do fail me!

If the seed is not novel, that is if it is an old cultivar or variety, then the company should have no ownership of the seeds' lineage. If it is something new they designed, then something like a 30 year patent would give them ownership of that new cultivars lineage.

In other words, they can sell you heirloom seeds, but not own them. They can both sell and own (for a few decades) their latest super seed.

That was all I was saying.

As for GMOs, I have mixed feelings about them. My problem with GMOs is when genes from plant phylums and classes or even from animals are spliced into the genomes of crop plants. If the GMO plants are modified with genes from differing families, genuses, and species, it is really no different than what we've been doing for thousands of years.

Unfortunately, the majority of the crops we've been eating for years now are GMO. We can't always avoid eating them by eating organic, at least not yet anyway.

that confers ownership over the plant it produces, that should include the seeds that plant produces as they are part of the plant. The intellectual property rights that govern this should be excluded to the genetic adjustments made by the manufacturer. They own the idea and that is all. If they choose to sell the seed and the plant that's their choice. All they should own is the idea itself and the seeds that THEY have grown.

they're not in the business of selling see for eating, but rather seed for farming. How can a company recover the enormous sums of money that went into developing the seed if farmers only have to buy the seed once? If farmers want the company's GMO seed, the farmers should have to pay for it; otherwise, they should get their seed elsewhere. After all, if they want the seed, it is for a reason. The seed is more adaptive in some way and/or brings about a greater crop yield.

Your course of action would put the companies that make GMO seed out of business. If you're against GMO seed, then that's great. If you're not, then it can't work.

I have a bigger problem with patent law in this case than I do with health effects. The simple fact is that if I had an organic farm, with tried and true strains in it that aren't products of Monsanto, but a Monsanto farm down the road has GMO seeds, then when the winds change, those PATENTED products will cross pollinate with my public domain products, forcing me to PAY Monsanto for my own damned plants, or I would have to destroy them which could destroy my farm. This is not only unfair, it should be illegal, you should not be able to patent LIVING things that REPRODUCE ON THEIR OWN.

That is a problem I have with their GMOs. Plants reproduce without regard to human conventions of ownership. This is why there will have to be some type of agricultural "zoning". If their plants cross pollinate your organically grown plants, then perhaps they should PAY you for the damage?! If they were to face that risk, they might rethink their business models.

I still believe in intellectual property, even when applied to GMOs. I'm just unsure about how genetic engineering of plants should be carried out.

one that should be abandoned. Copyright and Patent law is a privilege extended to individuals by government to allow them to have a temporary monopoly on an idea or invention they created, so they could profit from it. There are limits, like "Fair Use" in copyright law, to these privileges. If "Intellectual Property" was really Property, fair use wouldn't exist, as an example. I, after all, can't rearrange your house on a whim, unless I have your permission first, that is real property. But I could use a song of yours as a base for a parody, that's fair use.

The problem with GMO products is that living things weren't patentable up till 1989 in this country, GE created a strain of bacteria that ate hydrocarbons in the late 1970s, so it was great to clean up oil spills, the thing was that the patent office refused to issue a patent, the bacteria was a living thing, and therefore verboten, according to the patent office. GE took them to court, and fought for close to 10 years against them, then a panel of 3 judges in appeals court heard the case, and because all three failed biology(they compared the bacteria to TIDE, for crying out loud), they overturned the Patent's offices decision.

This has lead to a race to sequence as many living things as possible by large multinational corporations. Once sequenced, the Patent office issues patents on the DNA itself, even though nothing was created yet. This leads to atrocious practices that even sequences of HUMAN DNA have been patented, as long as Human beings themselves aren't patented, that's OK. The thing you must realize is that there are no LIMITS placed in patent law to protect people from abuses. Today its seed stock and farmers, tomorrow it may be genetic therapies and licensing of children.

If anything is to be patented, it should be the PROCESS of genetic therapy, not the END PRODUCT ITSELF. Monsanto could patent the process for making a GMO strain of corn, how the gene sequencing machines, chemical processes, etc. all work together, but once they start distributing the seeds themselves, they should lose ALL control of it.

You should NOT be able to patent life, and this is more far reaching than that. Monsanto and others are able to patent DISCOVERIES as well. If they sequence the genes for a Wheat strain that dates back a thousand years, they OWN the rights to that plant, and are trying to restrict it, they didn't even Genetically change it yet!

. . of the arguments to allow the terminator-gene seeds to be distributed. The next phase after that is the use of food as an agent of warfare. "We no like you, you no get seeds, you starve".

Tens of thousands of years of farmers raising their seeds, improving their crops, nurturing their land, down the toilet in a riot of greed and avarice.
Pity.

Courtesy Monsanto.

http://www.grain.org/articles/index.cfm?id=6&print=yes

When former Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator L. Paul Bremer III left Baghdad after the so-called "transfer of sovereignty" in June 2004, he left behind the 100 orders he enacted as chief of the occupation authority in Iraq. Among them is Order 81 on "Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety." <1> This order amends Iraq's original patent law of 1970 and unless and until it is revised or repealed by a new Iraqi government, it now has the status and force of a binding law. <2> With important implications for farmers and the future of agriculture in Iraq, this order is yet another important component in the United States' attempts to radically transform Iraq's economy.

WHO GAINS?

For generations, small farmers in Iraq operated in an essentially unregulated, informal seed supply system. Farm-saved seed and the free innovation with and exchange of planting materials among farming communities has long been the basis of agricultural practice. This is now history. The CPA has made it illegal for Iraqi farmers to re-use seeds harvested from new varieties registered under the law. Iraqis may continue to use and save from their traditional seed stocks or what’s left of them after the years of war and drought, but that is the not the agenda for reconstruction embedded in the ruling. The purpose of the law is to facilitate the establishment of a new seed market in Iraq, where transnational corporations can sell their seeds – genetically modified or not, which farmers would have to purchase afresh every single cropping season.

While historically the Iraqi constitution prohibited private ownership of biological resources, the new US-imposed patent law introduces a system of monopoly rights over seeds. Inserted into Iraq's previous patent law is a whole new chapter on Plant Variety Protection (PVP) that provides for the "protection of new varieties of plants." PVP is an intellectual property right (IPR) or a kind of patent for plant varieties which gives an exclusive monopoly right on planting material to a plant breeder who claims to have discovered or developed a new variety. So the "protection" in PVP has nothing to do with conservation, but refers to safeguarding of the commercial interests of private breeders (usually large corporations) claiming to have created the new plants.

To qualify for PVP, plant varieties must comply with the standards of the UPOV <3> Convention, which requires them be new, distinct, uniform and stable. Farmers' seeds cannot meet these criteria, making PVP-protected seeds the exclusive domain of corporations. The rights granted to plant breeders in this scheme include the exclusive right to produce, reproduce, sell, export, import and store the protected varieties. These rights extend to harvested material, including whole plants and parts of plants obtained from the use of a protected variety. This kind of PVP system is often the first step towards allowing the full-fledged patenting of life forms. Indeed, in this case the rest of the law does not rule out the patenting of plants or animals.

more . . .

http://www.grain.org/articles/index.cfm?id=6&print=yes

I can't imagine anyone actually enforcing this law and not ending up in a beheading video.

where can you locate those who are responsible?

One of the problems is that it's lawyers in silk suits who are following instructions from their masters.

That's what's happening here too.

We can's see the heads.

Harder to know who / what is the enemy of God and nature.

actually going into farmers fields and homes and telling them that they can't plant their own seeds. I'm wondering if that's been occuring in practice, or whether that kind of enforcement has been "suspended" until some sort of order has been established. I can't imagine anyone actually going into a farm like that and living to tell about it.

The most famous case was Percy Schmeiser, a farmer in Canada whose canola fields had been contaminated by Monsanto Roundup Ready canola seed, and Monsanto demanded $15 an acre from him. This was a widely publicized case but there are many others.

Most farmers don't have resources to fight this kind of thing.

Read about it here: http://www.percyschmeiser.com/

Or here -- about other lawsuits against farmers: "Monsanto Continues Assault on Farmers in U.S. -- The Center for Food Safety (CFS) released an extensive review of Monsanto’s use and abuse of U.S. patent law to control the usage of staple crop seeds by U.S. farmers. The CFS launched its investigation to determine the extent to which American farmers have been impacted by litigation arising from the use of patented genetically engineered crops...."

http://www.percyschmeiser.com/MonsantovsFarmers.htm

P.S.

http://www.percyschmeiser.com/MonsantovsFarmers.htm

WASHINGTON — Jan 13, 2005 - (NATURALWIRE) - The Center for Food Safety released today an extensive review of Monsanto’s use and abuse of U.S. patent law to control the usage of staple crop seeds by U.S. farmers. The Center (CFS) launched its investigation to determine the extent to which American farmers have been impacted by litigation arising from the use of patented genetically engineered crops. Monsanto vs. U.S. Farmers details the results of this research, discusses the ramifications for the future of farming in the U.S. and outlines policy options for ending the persecution of America’s farmers.

“These law suits and settlements are nothing less than corporate extortion of American farmers,” said Andrew Kimbrell executive Director of CFS. “Monsanto is polluting American farms with its genetically engineered crops, not properly informing farmers about these altered seeds, and then profiting from its own irresponsibility and negligence by suing innocent farmers. We are committed to stopping this corporate persecution of our farmers in its tracks.”

The report finds that, in general, Monsanto’s efforts to prosecute farmers can be divided into three stages: investigations of farmers; out-of-court settlements; and litigation against farmers Monsanto believes are in breach of contract or engaged in patent infringement. CFS notes in the report that, to date, Monsanto has filed 90 lawsuits against American farmers in 25 states that involve 147 farmers and 39 small businesses or farm companies. Monsanto has set aside an annual budget of $10 million dollars and a staff of 75 devoted solely to investigating and prosecuting farmers.

“Monsanto would like nothing more than to be the sole source for staple crop seeds in this country and around the world,” said Joseph Mendelson, CFS legal director. “And it will aggressively overturn centuries-old farming practices and drive its own clients out of business through lawsuits to achieve this goal.”


<<<<<<<SNIP>>>>>>

seeds that will not reproduce. No new seeds. This is just sick

The plant produces seeds, but they are dormant until the chemical is applied. Since Third world country farmers won't be able to afford this chemical, the world can look forward to world-wide famines on a massive scale.

An even worse outcome of this genetic engineering is that "normal" crops are contaminated by the pollen of these GM plants through blowing wind and insect and animal transfer. There have been cases where a farmer's crop was contaminated by a GM crop in a neighboring field and the farmer was SUED by the corporation (it may have been Monsanto) to pay royalties to the company for the use of THEIR technology. I don't remember the outcome, but the farmer was just about bankrupted by lawyer fees.

Historically, plants evolved to adapt to their environment. When conditions changed, the plants that adapted survived and became the dominant flora in an area. Genetic engineering will destroy that capability in nature and we could see the decimation of food species globally.

This is why the planet earth needs government regulation against the corporations to reign in their excesses. Currently, the U.S. government has been taken over by a cabal of business interests whose mission statement seems to be "we will own it all or we will destroy what we can't have." This has nothing to do with democracy or capitalism or free markets. It is a pathological distortion of nature, and just as any evolutionary change that is detrimental to survival, if it isn't counteracted, it could destroy civilization, if not life on this planet.

Now we must bow to the chem/ pharm "life sciences" corporations to provide us with genetically engineered terminator seeds brought to life by synthetic poisons, we must take their synthetic medicines and vaccines, and we must not purchase vitamins or herbs that have been on the earth for millions of years because they are bad for us. Farmers must only grow seeds approved by government agencies.

Oh what would we do without the government to protect us from God and nature?!



:wow:

and axing so called "free" trade agreements.

Remove the "right" to patent organisms and let governments regulate corporations as they see fit, and the problem basically goes away.

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) -- check it out today if you value clean food for you and your family.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offers a way for every human being to be directly involved in the care and healing of the earth, while also ensuring a supply of clean, healthy food for their families and their neighbors.

A page with good links to get you going:

http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms.html

is WHY the towers had to fall and not just be attacked...we had to be absolutely hypnotized!

it's a great example of why large corporations in this country (and worldwide really) are not participating in capitalism, or "the free market" or anything else like that. They are feudalists. That's what it is when you want the government to only give protection to the Haves and give absolutely none to the Have Nots. It is shocking and sickening.

this is capitalism at its purest. The rich try to get as much money as possible, in spite of the fact that it is beyond detrimental to just about everyone else.

By combining technology and methods out of reach to common farmers/gardeners with the gradual extinction of traditional methods, ancestral knowledge is being wiped out.

Result: if you eat, you are Monsanto's dog.

At least in the Middle Ages farmers could save their own effing seeds without accounting to anybody for it!

of their cattle.

As I related in post #22, a farmer whose crop was inadvertently contaminated by genetically modified pollen, was sued by the corporation for using their technology and the corporation demanded royalties.

It was absolutely ridiculous. Made (makes) me sick.

I'm an heirloom gardener and began trading seeds with friends and family over the last few years. Most gardener types will plant an heirloom plant, just to "try it." I encourage them, because once they've tried it, many continue the practice. There is something genuinely satisfying about the seed-to-seed cycle. There are many small-scale heirloom producers trying to get people to work with these old plant strains in the name of genetic diversity. After reading this, I will re-double my efforts in planting and saving seeds. At least until these sick whackjobs cannibalize everything green.

We are also heirloom growers who sell at market part-time. Education is a very important part of this process as some people don't even know what a REAL tomato tastes like, let alone understanding the importance of preserving our agricultural heritage.

A lot of people think that because they can walk into a supermarket at any time of year and buy whatever produce they want, that our food supply is bountiful and safe. But behind the scenes our agricultural prodcution is increasingly going to be compromised by a lack of diversity and these ppredatory practices.

It's ridiculous and a shame.

and we will be all for it. A few studies showing why it is bad, toss in some science, and folks will be screaming to ban seeds that are not government approved....

And they are legion, from flower gardeners to hardcore sustainable small family organic farmers to large-scale non-organic farmers and everybody in between who comes from any kind of orientation to the land (e.g., rural folks whose families have ALWAYS had gardens for generations, while they did large-scale crop farming to live on).

Even folks who have fallen for the GMO lies are waking up, little by little.

Truly, the only "bad" seeds are those that are no longer viable (fertile) and most people who use seeds (again, from flower gardeners on up the scale) understand how you go about protecting your seeds for next year and years hence. Or, there is some risk of fungus attacks on seeds, but that's not all that common either if you know what you're doing when you save the seeds in the first place.

And they produce plants that are so beautiful and sturdy. Old stock of flowers are also quite resistant to disease. Many are highly unusual. Some of the corn is so beautiful, and there are tomatoes and melons that you would never see at the supermarket. There is a beautiful melon from old heirloom stock from Israel that is unusual and incredibly delicious.

I don't know a whole lot about seeds, having only had a simple garden with my spouse. But the old timey country home gardeners who have been gardening for decades, say the seeds their families have been using for generations are far superior than the stuff they see in seed stores. Living deep in the country amongst families who've lived here for over a hundred years-- brings a particular perspective about these things.

But heirloom seeds and any OPEN POLLINATING seeds are NOT in the best interest of chem/pharm --- it wants seeds that need its chemicals to grow, and that you will have to buy every year. It wants farmers to keep themselves dependent on them, their seeds and their poisons. Without the chems, the seeds won't produce much of anything.

What a deal!

And remember please -- these are the same companies that develop pesticides, drugs and vaccines. Aren't we lucky to have them to make sure we make the right choices?

I wonder what our health and lives would be like if we were allowed to live in this world without being forced to take, breathe in and eat their novel synthetic drugs and poisons, which now contaminate all of our bodies -- do you think we would be a lot healthier than we are now? Or wait -- maybe we would be too healthy -- and might not need drugs to "manage" our illnesses.

:dunce: I almost forgot.

But then....with sanitation, good housing, work, a clean environment, and freedom from war -- humankind might have a wonderful future. I used to think it was the future that we've been dreaming about for our children...

What happened?

edit to make verb work with plural noun

Though I am ashamed to admit it, I started growing heirlooms as a historical food experiment; there were so many varietals I thought sounded amazing. I'm a voracious amateur cook, and tasteless food renders my hobby a bit boring. So that is how I started with the heirlooms. In summation, I was in search of taste. I found it.

Some of the vegetables/herbs I grow would be considered downright freaky by our "standard" driven society. Tomatoes with a purple outer wall? Ewwwww! Blue (really purple) potatoes? Well, those look weird...you get the picture.

It was only a few years back that I began researching the use of heirloom seeds and the importance of ensuring biodiversity in plants. So, though I accidentally (and selfishly) began the process so I could cook better food, I now do it for its own sake. In other words, I might never cook that weird pepper I stumbled across, but I'll grow it, save the seed, and pass it on to someone else who will continue the chain.

And now those rapacious greedy bastards want to criminalize that? Insane.

are essentially destroying nature and biodiversity.

There are too many people that will never know the incredible flavors and beauty of some of heirloom vegetables and fruits. These plants are so amazing and wonderful that it makes you want to weep for joy that they can even be on this earth.

But most of the world will never see them or taste them. The only reason we found them is because we decided to buy heirloom seeds from a tiny company that still provides them --for our organic garden. Part of the reason is that many heirlooms have natural resistance to pests and disease -- thereby rendering chem/pharm's synthetic poisons unnecessary.

Chem/pharm is buying up all the seed stock. It should be illegal.

It's not only the sale of its own closed system seeds that worries me -- its also their huge power getting the feds and states to push their synthetic drugs. It also gets rid of its competition by the demonization of herbs and vitamins.

Did you know that it pushed a bill through Congress that creates a reporting system for bad effects from vitamins? It DOESN'T REQUIRE that these reports be verified by a doctor?? Imagine a system, where any chem/pharm flunky can report these events!! This is a bold effort to get rid of the competition. Realize too that this industry's drugs kill over 120,000 persons in hospitals alone -- and yet the feds do NOT require that drug negative affects and adverse events be reported by doctors who prescribe them!! IT'S VOLUNTARY for doctors and the drug companies to do this!!!!!

So here we have it... a powerful industry that creates synthetic poisons and systems of political control, which serve to wipe out natural systems of farming and healing -- in the effort to control all of of life through the "scientific" and political controls that increasingly exclude these natural system choices from the public.

heirloom gardening. It taught me so much about our corrupt system regarding food, pharma and chem companies. It opened my eyes for sure, which is one reason I formed a gardening club at work - I can share with others some of the things I have learned. And, as you mention, the flavor of some of those venerable old varieties are absolutely revelatory to a palate raised on supermarket produce.

I have been watching the anti-herb/vitamin push very closely, though I was unaware of the bill you mention. I will have to catch up on that. Though it does not surprise me at all. :-(

I am really interested in herbal remedies, though I am not trained specifically for them. I do love to grow them. I know enough to concoct a few teas and dry them for food use. Since I grow them without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, I often give bottles of dried herbs as gifts. I have gotten a few people started on their own herb gardens in this way.

Thanks for your insights. I really appreciate talking to other heirloom/organic gardeners, because I learn something new all the time!

How long before these companies try to co-opt these treasured varieties as their own?

You know it has to be in the back of their mind somewhere.

to support such folks as Seed Savers of Decorah, Iowa, and any other similar groups. http://www.seedsavers.org/

and I also found this: Seed Savers, Seed Exchanges, and Seed Societies
http://www.halcyon.com/tmend/exchanges.htm

they will realize that the experts have come to save us from the horrors of nature.

the program which sends animals to poor villages and teaches people how to nourish themselves, and grow 2 animals into 4, then 100, and become self-sustaining, through the care of these animals. I forget the name of the group, but I have always admired those who teach people how to care for themselves, which is all that people really need. Along the lines of these seed rights are water rights. Both have resulted in uprisings and riots. It is EXTREME capitalism. It is the worst part of human nature to take advantage of those we should be helping.

web bar none. IMHO, of course.

heifer gift catalog

We need to get this law on the books now.

I'm active in trading heirloom seeds with family and friends.

I also support and buy seeds from these folks.

http://www.seedsavers.org/

Perhaps we will all end up doing a new version of the Victory Garden.

http://www.rareseeds.com/

Jere Gettle and Baker Creek also have as their mission seeking out preserving many of the world's outstanding and unique crops and helping to save them from extinction


For those of you who don't garden, understand that the true mission of these companies in the links just posted is not to sell seeds. That is just a funding mechanism for them. Their true purpose is to seek out open pollinated varieties from around the world, catalouge them, increase the seed stock if the variety is near extinction and spread the seed amongst growers who will keep the variety alive.

You can help there efforts by donating, purchasing books or magazines and buying seed if you do garden. If you do have a farmer's market near you, please patronize it. And don't balk at paying slightly more than you would pay in a supermarket. The food quality is often tenfold better than what you what you could buy commercially and you'll be doing your part to help sustain genetic diversity in our food supply.

The idea being to sell farmers "superior" seeds that will produce a great crop -- but no next-generation seeds. A sterile fruit, if you will.

This plan chains poor farmers to multi-national corporations with no hope of breaking free. And some fine day there will be a hideous famine as a result.

As I said, a crime against humanity.

I wonder how wide-spread this practice has become. Every so often I save the seeds from a butternut squash and plant them in my yard, where they grow quite happily into flowering vines and eventually I get a few free squashes out of the deal. Last time I tried it I got flowers but none of them ever "set" into baby squashes, even after I hand-pollinated them. That really bothered me. I do this just for fun, not because I will starve if I don't, but I couldn't help thinking of farmers in India.

Hekate

I guess the notion of private property and free enterprise only apply to large corporations, not poor farmers.
They should have a right to use whatever seed they want, including seed saved from their crop.
Also, the lack of genetic diversity can really be a bad thing.

If it is finally beginning to reach the public conscious, I'm glad of it.

There's more than one reason to oppose genetically modified crops or livestock.

Iraqi farmers have to buy seeds from Monsanto, they can't grow seeds they already have. I heard this on Air America (maybe Franken) last summer.

One of the worst Supreme Court judgments ever handed down was that which allowed the patenting of life forms.

:scared: UGH!

DemEx

Along with the patenting of DNA and the DMCA for the internet, our laws for copyright and patents need an overhaul to fix things for the general public.

They will probably make you buy a special license before you can plant a garden in your back yard. Have to present the license to Wal Mart in order to buy only Monsanto seeds and chemicals.

So having termination seeds is a logical step on the road to intellectual feudalism.

She's a physicist-turned-food-activist/environmentalist, and she speaks in amazing ways about the sociological aspects of seeds, farming, and community life; and how it is all under attack by the big agrochem companies.

You can hear one of her speeches at tucradio.org ("time of useful consciousness" = tuc)

they've already got water, land, plants, airwaves and every other resource you can think of.

I will become a full blown Marxist, and I will exercise my 2nd Amendment rights against anyone who tries to prevent me from breathing without paying. Privatization of air would be my official breaking point economically.

American farmers already have this law. Why should we be the only dumbsh*ts that pay for Monsanto to develop this? I want this to be the law everywhere or nowhere (preferably nowhere). It's just like this on medicine to, American are paying out the ass for drugs that people in other countries get for pennies on the dollar. China pirates the hell out of music and we're paying $18 for a damn CD that cost maybe a dollar to produce. Why are people so willing to let American pay for everything and everyone else gets a free ride?

*note I don't want this to sound corporate friendly, I begrudge Monsanto and big Pharma the air they breathe, but damnit this is an unfair advantage other countries have and our government is stupid to just let this happen.

First things first CDs cost 18 bucks a pop because the RIAA is run by a bunch of greedy fucks and our government is owned by them. I don't begrudge the Chinese for pirating this shit, I hope they help to bring the RIAA down. The same could be said for medicine, big Pharma owns our government, therefore we get screwed, why should we begrudge other nations that CHOOSE to not be screwed by these same corporations? Especially those under health care crises and simply cannot afford the bullshit, inflated, prices of drugs?