DOCSLIB.ORG

„Resilient Seed“

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
„Resilient Seed“ „Resilient Seed“ On the seed industry, EU seed laws and the engagement for seed-sovereignty A booklet to accompany the documentary by Ella von der Haide on the Seed Sovereignty Action Days on 17-18 April 2011 in Brussels Autumn 2012 - Distributed free of charge „Resilient Seed“ - the film Documentary by Ella von der Haide (2011), 30 min. Original version with subtitles A documentary about the Seed Action Days that took place This documentary is available with in Brussels on 17-18 April 2011 subtitles in English, French, German, Company interests and restrictive Dutch, Greek, Japanese and Spanish. laws represent a threat to something Available at that should be a matter of course www.seed-sovereignty.org/film.html. for everybody: the production and Further information: exchange of seeds. This development is due to transnational seed and agribusiness companies strongly influencing the legislation in Brussels through their lobby firms. The „European Campaign for Seed Sovereignty“ organised a diverse and colourful protest in Brussels against this menace and invited people to seed swaps in order to bring free heritage seeds back into use. With our thanks to the organisations that have provided financial support : aktion selbstbesteuerung - Friede durch gerechte Entwicklungspolitik www.bewegungsstiftung.de „Resilient Seed“ - the booklet CONTENT 1. Get informed and take action! 4 2. The power of seed and agrochemical companies 6 3. Seed law = seed marketing law 9 4. Seed law in 2012 at a crossroads 12 5. Plant variety protection (PVP) and UPOV 13 6. Patents on plants 15 7. How to organise a seed swap 17 8. Appearing in the documentary 20 9. Thank you 23 Impressum: Authors: Anne Schweigler and Andreas Riekeberg, English translation: Nicolas Bell, Photos: Anne Schweigler, Udo Schilling and Johannes Geiermann (Seed Campaign), Photos p. 17/18: Arantxa Aldunzin (Umbruch Bildarchiv), Drawings p. 3/11: titom.be (CC: BY-NC-ND_2.0-be). Published in Autumn 2012 for the Campaign for Seed Sovereignty (www.seed-sovereignty.org): 1. Get informed and take action! Seeds are a fundamental base for gro- Since the middle of the last centu- wing our food both in agriculture and ry, seed and agrochemical companies gardening. For seed and agrochemical have been determining what agricu- companies, they represent a resour- ltural crops are planted and by what ce that enables them to earn a lot of methods in an increasing number of money and to gain control over food countries. One of their main strategies production. For for imposing their decades they have interests is their en- been breeding va- ormous influence rieties to facilitate on legislation and their control. international trade These are either agreements. A re- hybrid varieties, ma- cent example is the king it necessary present revision of to constantly buy Seed box at seed exchange in „Maison des Cultures et de la cohésion the European Uni- new seeds because sociale de Molenbeek-Saint-Jean“, Brussels on seed marketing only the first generation gives a good legislation. harvest. Alternatively the varieties are The Seed Action Days were organised patented and thereby totally privatised. on 17-18 April 2011 in Brussels in order to This is one of the reasons for genetical- combat a further tightening up of this ly modifying seeds: to be able to patent legislation and particularly against the them. However, patents have also been exclusion of non-registered seeds from granted for plant characteristics that sale. The Seed Sovereignty Campaign have not been obtained through gene- (Seed Campaign) conducted a protest, tic modification. In order to grow, all together with initiatives and organisa- of these varieties need a powerful input tions from many European countries, of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and ir- against the domination of seed and rigation. agrochemical companies. This is what 1. Get informed and take action! the documentary „Seeds in Resistance“ organise a seed exchange“ can be found is all about. in the following pages. At the first European We aim to achieve seed seed swap in Brussels sovereignty – meaning and at decentralised that people should be seed events in many able to have access to European countries, the seeds required for especially Poland and their own food. This Portugal, activists and involves local social seed lovers emphasi- networks bringing to- sed the importance gether farmers and gar- of creating practical Protest march through the European Union district deners using regionally of Brussels on 18/4/2011 alternatives. adapted, free and open It is important that more people get pollinated heirloom varieties in agri- actively involved with seeds and learn culture or urban community gardens, to conserve and multiply them. At seed in household or allotment gardens or swaps gardeners and farmers can ex- on the balcony. At the same time, we change not only seeds but also their need agriculture and seed policies that knowledge about the cultivation and promote this practice and facilitate the use of plants and other interesting in- access to seeds, breaking the domina- formation. Seed swaps are ideal occa- tion of the big seed companies by pro- sions for networking, attracting people hibiting genetically modified seeds and from different cultures and of different seed privatisation. ages. This is what we are fighting for! You The Seed Sovereignty Campaign calls are invited to become part of the grow- for „Seed Swaps everywhere“! More in- ing world-wide movement for seed and formation and a checklist on „How to food sovereignty! 2. The power of seed and agrochemical companies ...in plant breeding while contributing to the destruction of A major problem in the field of plant biodiversity. breeding is the growing influence of ... Terminator seed vari- agrochemical companies eties for total control and their strategies in the The priority given by field of plant breeding. seed companies to gaining Over the past decades, maximum profits in their many medium-sized plant- plant breeding work leads breeding companies have to perverse developments been bought up by inter- such as „terminator va- national companies that rieties“. These are plants produce pesticides and whose seeds are sterile artificial fertilizers. These Banner at march in Brussels on 18/4/2011 unless they are treated in are, however, not at all time with a special chemical. At present, interested in undemanding, locally ad- terminator technology is subject to an apted varieties. They are only interested international moratorium. However, the in agricultural varieties adapted to the very fact that efforts have been made to input of their chemicals, because the- develop them shows that the seed in- se companies gain more money selling dustry is not interested in highly fertile pesticides and artificial fertilizers than varieties, but in gaining worldwide con- they do by selling seeds. For them, seeds trol over agriculture and horticulture, are like the worm on the fishhook: fish, making it necessary to buy new seeds in this case the peasants, are meant to every year bite - consequently buying the agroche- mical products needed to grow their The fact that the key criteria in plant plants. Such multinational companies breeding is ensuring maximum profits develop genetically modified organisms for the chemical industry represents a (GMO) in order to make huge profits, life-threatening dead end, resulting in an 2. The power of seed and agrochemical companies increasing loss of agricultural biodiversi- ... development aid for more „indus- ty. To counter this trend, the criteria for trial“ seeds plant breeding should be the well-being These huge companies make use of of plants and the human beings who eat this concentration of power to get local them. This is a task for the whole socie- seed traders to work for them in many ty, and it should be financed with public parts of the world. In certain regions of funds. India, for example, for some time it was ... fewer and fewer companies have only possible to buy genetically modified more and more control BT cotton seeds, forcing local farmers to The concentration of the seed market grow GM cotton because in their regi- is growing daily. The three seed and on they could not obtain conventional agrochemical companies Monsanto, Du- seeds. Pont and Syngenta already control 53% Transnational companies also manipu- of the worldwide seed trade. German late development aid projects. For some companies like Bayer, BASF and KWS and years, great sums of so-called develop- the French Limagrain are also among ment aid money have been invested in the Top 10 on the global seed market. Africa in order to create an infrastruc- Together they already control 73%. ture for the seed and agrochemical busi- (Who will control the Green Economy? ness. The seeds traded there are not re- See www.etcgroup.org/en/node/5296) gionally adapted, patent-free, heirloom The multiple interconnections bet- seeds but products of companies that ween seed companies and their subsidi- dominate the global market. The goal ary firms are clearly portrayed in Philip of extending this market domination is H. Howard‘s „Seed Industry Structure“ masked by the pretext of humanitaria- graphic: www.msu.edu/~howardp/seedin- nism. The role of major actors, such as dustry.html. the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation in Africa is 2. The power of seed and agrochemical companies well described in the etcgroup‘s study In Brussels, where seed legislation is at „Food Sovereignty or Green Revolution present being revised and the EU Com- 2.0“ www.etcgroup.org/en/node/612 mon Agricultural Policy is decided, there … seeds and lobbying are plenty of biotech and agrochemical All of these private companies also industry lobby organisations. The orga- have great nisation „Cor- influence on porate Euro- national le- pe Observato- gislations and ry (CEO)“ do- internatio- cuments and nal treaties, denounces such as the the power of International such compa- Union for the nies in Euro- Protection of pe.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Role of Plant Variety Protection and Seed Marketing Legislation in the European Union
    sustainability Article Law-Driven Innovation in Cereal Varieties: The Role of Plant Variety Protection and Seed Marketing Legislation in the European Union Serena Mariani Department of Law, University of Macerata, 62100 Macerata, Italy; [email protected] Abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of EU legislation in shaping innovation in cereal varieties. The research focuses on two fields of law and their relationship, i.e., intellectual property and agricultural law. More specifically, the normative legal investigation concerns the role played by Community plant variety protection and the EU legislation on the marketing of seed and plant propagating material in shaping innovation and stimulating plant breeding of new cereal varieties. The focus is on cereal varieties because innovation in this field has a great socio-economic impact, as well as strategic scientific and environmental implications. Breeding new cereal varieties is essential for the competitiveness of the seed and agricultural sector of the EU, and it can contribute to food security and the achievement of sustainable development goals. The study finds that it is necessary to simplify the existing legal framework by coordinating intellectual property and agricultural law, providing for legislative review and better coherence in order to effectively shape innovation and meet the changing demands of society and the sustainability challenges. Keywords: agricultural innovation; sustainable agriculture; plant breeding; cereals; intellectual Citation: Mariani, S. Law-Driven property; agricultural law; plant variety rights; seed marketing; European Union Innovation in Cereal Varieties: The Role of Plant Variety Protection and Seed Marketing Legislation in the European Union. Sustainability 2021, 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Revision of EU Seeds Laws-1
    5th meeting of the European Seed Network “Let’s Liberate Diversity!" Volkshaus, Graz, Austria Workshop 1 , March 25, 2010, 2 PM Revision of EU seeds laws Introduction by RSP, Guy Kastler: The co-evolution of the European legislative landscape and industrial strategies of appropriation of our vital resources I - THE CONTEXT I - 1. The legal impact of new biotechnologies in the strategy of seed appropriation I - 2. The CBD and ITPGRFA: high places of influence where the legalization of biopiracy confronts the rights of peoples and farmers I - 3 Hygiene, environmental and biosafety to help the interests of seed companies II - CONSERVATION VARIETIES OR VARITIES CREATED TO RESPOND TO CULTIVATION UNDER SPECIAL CONDITIONS III - "INNOVATIVE" NATIONAL LAWS III - 1 Farm-Saved Seed III - 2 « Amateur » varieties III - 3 Conservation varieties III - 4 Varieties for organic farming III - 5 The Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) for grass plants in major European regions and the French Environmental VCU III - 6 Marketing and "informal" exchange of seeds of varieties not listed IV - THE ACTION PLAN OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION V - PROPOSED ACTION GMOs and industrial property Farmers' Rights Catalogue Certification I - THE CONTEXT In 2007 the European Commission began a process of simplifying its regulations for the marketing of seeds and propagating material (S & PM), also known as the "Better Regulation of seeds” process. It first gave the task of evaluation to a private consulting firm known for its biotech friendly approach. Only the seed industry, COPA-COGECA and a few players from the organic seed producers, were consulted. Based on this work, on September 29, 2009 the Committee proposed an action plan to assess the impact of the reform.
    [Show full text]
  • A Guide to Organic Agriculture in Bhutan
    Acknowledgements Contents 1. Introduction 01 I would like to thankfully acknowledge the encouraging support and advice from many 1.1 Sustainable Agriculture 02 offi cers, professionals and scientists from various government departments, academic 1.2 Why Sustainable Agriculture? 03 and R&D institutions in Bhutan and in particular. Mr. Chencho Norbu, Director, Mr. 1.2.1 Ecological Sustainability 04 Ganesh Chettri, Specialist Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Mr. P.M. Pradhan, 1.2.2 Economic Sustainability 05 MD, Druk Seed Corporation, Mrs.Karma Dema and Mr. Tshewang Dorji, Scientists, 1.2.3 Social Sustainability 06 NSSC, Mr. Doe Doe, Scientist, NPPC and Mr. Karma Nidup, Scientist, BPDP. 1.3 Background of organic agriculture 07 1.4 Low-cost Organic Agriculture Systems 08 1.4.1 Vedic Agriculture 18 The support of SNV Bhutan in facilitating rural development activities with appropri- 1.4.2 Organic Agriculture 10 ate clean technologies like, organic agriculture for sustainable livelihoods of small 1.4.3 Biodynamic Agriculture 11 farmers is highly appreciable. The fi nancial support for preparing this document from 1.4.4 Permaculture 12 SNV, Bhutan, through the facilitation of Ms. Christine McMohan, Country Director, 1.4.5 Effective Micro-organisms 13 SNV Bhutan is gratefully acknowledged. 1.4.6 Natural Farming 14 1.5 Principles of Organic farming 14 1.6 Bhutan – The land of Thunder Dragon 15 I thank the relentless support and profound gratitude of Ms. Kesang Tshomo, Coor- 1.6.1 Agriculture 17 dinator, National Organic Program, Department of Agriculture in the preparation of 1.6.2 Buddhism and Agriculture: A communion 19 this document.
    [Show full text]
  • G20-Agriculture: Hundreds of Organizations Say STOP Farm Land
    Press release G20‐Agriculture: Hundreds of organizations say STOP farm land grabbing! Paris/Heidelberg, June 20, 2011 ‐ Hundreds of civil society organisations, including farmers' movements, women's groups and non‐governmental organisations, will launch a global appeal against farmland grabbing during the G20 meeting on Agriculture in Paris on June 22 and 23. Over 500 organizations from around the world (1) have joined the "Dakar Appeal Against Land Grabbing" (2) that was originally drawn up at the World Social Forum in Dakar last February and launched by, among others, la Via Campesina and FIAN International. While agriculture ministers from the world's 20 richest countries are discussing what to do about food price volatility and the growing hunger crisis, millions of hectares of fertile land, along with their water resources, are being grabbed from peasants, pastoralists, herders, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and traditional healers to be converted into massive agribusiness operations by private investors who want to produce food supplies or agro‐fuels for international markets. As a consequence, millions of peasant families and other rural and indigenous folk are being thrown off their lands and deprived of their livelihoods. During a major academic conference on land grabbing earlier this year in Brighton, UK, research studies of over 100 cases of “large scale land investments” were presented. They generally show no positive effects for local communities (3). On the contrary, in many cases people are being evicted and pushed into poverty. In the Dakar Appeal, being handed over to the French Government chairing the G20, major civil society organisations are calling upon governments to immediately cease all massive land grabs and return the plundered land to communities.
    [Show full text]
  • SAVE Enews 1/2012
    SAVE eNews 1/2012 Quarterly e-mail service of the European SAVE Foundation (Safeguard for Agricultural Varieties in Europe) SAVE Head Office: Web: http://www.save-foundation.net Joseph-Belli-Weg 5, D-78467 Konstanz/Germany E-mail: [email protected] Feral Populations in Europe The feral, white Camargue horses are a well known breed from France. For visitors of the Camargue at the mouth of the Rhone river they are a symbol of freedom and adventure. Together with the Betizu cattle in the Pyrenees, the Chillingham cattle in England, the Sandsøya goats in Norway and many other breeds and varieties they were once farm animals and are now feral and exist mostly without the influence of humans – sometimes since many hundreds of years. In other parts of Europe, horses, cattle, goats and sheep Camargue Horse; source: tgv-europe have been left to themselves – sometimes due to migration away from war zones or dis- advantaged rural areas. These feral or semi-feral populations have often been more or less ignored. Unless, of course, they disturb forestry or agriculture through disease, damage, cross-breeding, fodder or water competition. Nature protection bodies view these populations ambivalently: on the one hand, these livestock populations have a massive impact on the eco-system balance, on the other hand they are put to use as semi-feral populations in the conservation of natural and park landscapes. Thus, the New Forest in England has been grazed by horses, cattle and pigs for hundreds of years and a unique park-like landscape with its own ecosystem has been created.
    [Show full text]
  • Review of the Balance of Competences Between the United Kingdom and the European Union Agriculture
    Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union Agriculture Summer 2014 Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union Agriculture © Crown copyright 2014 You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ doc/open-government-licence/ or e-mail: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected]. This document is also available from our website gcn.civilservice.gov.uk/ Contents Executive Summary 5 Introduction 11 Chapter 1 Development and Current State of Competence 15 Chapter 2 Impact on the National Interest: Summary of Responses 31 2.1 EU Competence for Agriculture and its Impact on the UK 32 2.2 Should Action be Taken at International, EU or National Level? 47 2.3 Does the Existing Way of Making and Implementing EU Policy Work? 57 Chapter 3 Future Opportunities and Challenges 71 Annex A List of Evidence 81 Annex B Participants in Workshop Events 88 Annex C Glossary of Acronyms 91 Executive Summary This report examines the balance of competences between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom in the area of agriculture. It is a reflection and analysis of the evidence submitted by experts, non-governmental organisations, businesspeople, Members of Parliament and other interested parties, either in writing or orally, as well as a literature review of relevant material.
    [Show full text]
  • Strategies of Farmers' Movements To
    ‘Free our seeds !’ Strategies of farmers’ movements to reappropriate seeds Elise Demeulenaere To cite this version: Elise Demeulenaere. ‘Free our seeds !’ Strategies of farmers’ movements to reappropriate seeds. Fabien Girard; Christine Frison. The Commons, Plant Breeding and Agricultural Research. Challenges for Food Security and Agrobiodiversity, Routledge, pp.210-225, 2018, Earthscan Food and Agriculture, 9781351615907. hal-01793041 HAL Id: hal-01793041 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01793041 Submitted on 22 Feb 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 13 ‘Free our seeds!’ Strategies of farmers’ movements to reappropriate seeds Elise Demeulenaere Demeulenaere É., 2018, « ‘Free our seeds !’ Strategies of farmers’ movements to reappropriate seeds », in F. Girard & C. Frison (eds.), The Commons, Plant Breeding and Agricultural Research : Challenges for Food Security and Agrobiodiversity, Routledge (Earthscan Food and Agriculture), p. 210-225. In Brussels in April 2011, in the course of my research on seed activism in Europe, I attended a protest against big seed companies lobbying EU institutions. It took place just prior to the consultations organised in May 2011 to prepare for a reform of EU seed laws. The event was the result of a coalition of different European organisations involved in seed activism – mostly gardeners’ associations organising seed swaps (events known in the United Kingdom as ‘Seedy Sundays’) or associations for the conservation of heritage cultivated biodiversity.
    [Show full text]
  • Dimitra Newsletter No 7, 2002
    Newsletter N° 7 – Brussels, September 2002 Dimitra Newsletter RURAL WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT Dear Friends, are getting involved in a particularly innova- on the fact that “information technologies FOREWORD Over the last months, the Dimitra tive, entrepreneurial and courageous way in are not a luxury but an essential instrument team has undertaken several missions to information technologies, in spite of their for sustainable development.” If informa- Africa and the Near East to relaunch infor- limited access to resources and infrastruc- tion is not shared and relayed by groups mation collection activities with the partners tures. The women have let it be known that and networks, it is diffi cult to fi ght against situated in these regions, among which they consider access to information to be an hunger and poverty. we have the great pleasure of welcoming essential factor for development, which they Nancy Hafkin and Nancy Taggart show in SANGONeT/Womens’Net in South Africa must dispose of and which they must be able their study ‘Gender, Information Technology and and ONG VIE in Niger. All of these meet- to use and to own. Developing Countries: an Analytic Study’ that em- ings confi rmed that rural populations, and Numerous opportunities for meeting and re- powerment also comes through information particularly women, consider new informa- fl ection are arising to explore ways to adapt access, mastering communication skills and tion and communication technologies as information and communication methods the openness of women to information and a fundamental factor for change, enabling and to broaden the range of their use. The communication technologies – both modern links to be created and encouraging mutual Know How Conference 2002, “A safari into and traditional.
    [Show full text]
  • Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2012
    OMB No 1545-0047 Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax 2012 Under section 501 (c), 527, or 4947(aXl) of the Internal Revenue Code (except black lung benefit trust or private foundation) r :• open,.tO,P--ublic` Department of the Treasury ., T•^Insliection " Internal Revenue Service ► The organization may have to use a copy of this return to satisfy state reporting requirements. A For the 2012 calendar year, or tax year beginning , 2012, and ending B Check if applicable C Employer Identification Number Address change Tides Foundation 51-0198509 Name change Box 29903 Telephone number Initial return San Francisco, CA 94129-0903 AlI_cci_cnnn Term i nated Amended return G Gross receipts $ 163 806 470 . Application pending F Name and address of principal officer Gary Schwartz H(a) Is this a group return for affiliates? Yes X No H(b) Are all affiliates included' Yes No Same As C Above If 'No,' attach a list (see instructions) I Tax-exempt status X 501(c)(3) 501(c) ( )' (Insert no) 4947( or 527 ll^ J Website : ► www. tides. or H(c) Group exemption number K Form of organization X Co rporation Trust Association Other L Year of Formation 1976 M State of legal domicile CA Part ' I.j-it Summary 1 Briefly describe the organization 's mission or most significant activities Tides Foundation ' s rimar eXem t purpose is crantmaking _ _ We emQower individuals and institutions_ to move money C3 C -------efficientl--y and effectively------ towards positive social change .__ _ - - - - - - - - - - - _ __-- E -------- --- ----------------- - - - ---- 0 2 Check this box ► If the organ zatlon discontinued its operations or posed of ole fhan25% of-Its net assets.
    [Show full text]
  • 2006 Grantee List
    Tides Foundation 2006 Grantee List* Organization Grant Amount Location Web Address 1+1+1=ONE $7,000.00 UNITED STATES 371 Productions $50,000.00 UNITED STATES http://371productions.com 3rd EyE Youth Empowerment $500.00 UNITED STATES www.3rdEyEunlimited.com 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic $30,000.00 UNITED STATES www.bvhphealingarts.org 42nd Street Moon $100.00 UNITED STATES www.42ndstmoon.com 651 ARTS $40,000.00 UNITED STATES www.651arts.org 69 Parallel $9,000.00 RUSSIA 7th Empire Media $10,000.00 UNITED STATES [email protected] 826 Seattle $250.00 UNITED STATES www.826seattle.org A Home Within $5,000.00 UNITED STATES www.ahomewithin.org A Traveling Jewish Theater $1,600.00 UNITED STATES www.atjt.com Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts $2,500.00 UNITED STATES Abraham Fund $13,480.00 UNITED STATES www.abrahamfund.org Academy For Educational Development $10,000.00 UNITED STATES www.edequity.org Access Works $20,000.00 UNITED STATES www.accessworks.org ACORN Institute $412,250.00 UNITED STATES www.acorn.org Acorn International $20,000.00 UNITED STATES www.acorn.org ACORN Living Wage Resource Center $40,000.00 UNITED STATES www.livingwagecampaign.org Act Together: Women's Action in Iraq $5,000.00 GREAT BRITAIN www.acttogether.org Acterra $10,000.00 UNITED STATES www.Acterra.org Action for Children $10,000.00 UGANDA www.actionforchildren.or.ug Action on Disability and Development $24,426.00 BURKINA FASO Adaptive Design Association $25,000.00 UNITED STATES www.adaptivedesign.org Added Value & Herban Solutions Inc $20,000.00 UNITED STATES www.added-value.org Advocates for Environmental Human Rights $30,000.00 UNITED STATES www.ehumanrights.org/ Affordable Housing Associates $500.00 UNITED STATES www.ahainc.org Affordable Housing Resources, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • SEED SATYAGRAHA (Civil Disobedience to End Seedslavery)
    SEED SATYAGRAHA (Civil Disobedience To End SeedSlavery) 1 SEED SATYAGRAHA (Civil Disobedience To End SeedSlavery) SYNTHESIS Humanity has sustained itself through organic agriculture for the last 10,000 “Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people”. years, working with nature, using nature’s inherent urge to grow, adapt, create - Henry Kissinger diversity; selecting good seeds for nutrition, taste and resilience. Food is Organic and despite corporate efforts, 70% of the food people eat worldwide still comes “Control seed and you control life, itself”. from small farms. Organic can feed the world if it was allowed to create the - Dr. Vandana Shiva abundance it can deliver instead of being criminalised. Through imposing laws related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) & patents on Since the second world war, fought over the control of resources, Oil Companies seed which deny farmers and gardner the right to save and share seed, pseudo and Chemical Corporations that were beneficiaries of the World Wars - like ‘Hygiene’ laws called Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) laws such as the Food Monsanto - have influenced geopolitical policy (masquerading as food policy) to Safety Modernisation Act in the US which deny local, small scale artisanal produc- create peace-time demand for and dependence on fossil fuels and toxic chemicals ers the right to produce and process safe and healthy food, and Acts like the Safe in the global food system. A system waging war on nature and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 (more accurately and human beings forcing countries to use war chemicals labeled the Denying Americans the Right to Know (DARK) and technologies in the name of agricultural innovation.
    [Show full text]
  • Breeding Initiatives of Seeds of Landraces, Amateur Varieties And
    Breeding initiatives of seeds of landraces, amateur varieties and conservation varieties An inventory and Case Studies Aart Osman and Veronique Chable December 2007 Acknowledgements Information for the case studies, presented in this report, was provided by Mathieu Conseil (PAIS), Hans Larsson (Allkorn), René Groenen and Michael Fleck (Kultursaat), Thomas Levillain (Réseau Semences Paysanne), Ricardo Bocci (AIAB) and Donato Silveri (ARSSA). Furthermore the other members of the Farm Seed Opportunities project (www.farmseed.net ) have contributed to complement the inventory of seed initiatives of landraces, amateur varieties and conservation varieties. The authors want to thank all of them for this support. This study was financially supported by the European Commission through the STREP project "Farm Seed Opportunities", contract no. 044345, under the 6th Framework Programme, priority 8.1, "Specific Support to Policies." Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Inventory of initiatives on seeds of landraces 4 3. Case studies 11 Kultursaat, Germany 12 Plateforme Agrobiologique d’Inter Bio Bretagne à Suscinio, 16 France Syndicat de Promotion de la Touselle, France 20 Consorzio Solina d’Abruzzo, Italy 23 Allkorn, Sweden 26 4. Discussion and Conclusions 29 Literature 33 Appendix: Checklist of questions for the case-studies 34 1. Introduction One of the objectives of the Farm Seed Opportunities (FSO) project (www.farmseed.net ) is to develop on farm breeding methodologies for the conservation and development of landraces, amateur and conservation varieties. The starting point for the development of these methodologies are the already existing experiences of farmers, small scale seed producers and researchers. To be able to draw on the expertise of these practitioners, we have selected five breeding initiatives for in depth case-studies.
    [Show full text]