„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.