Transcript Dia 1 - XS4ALL

FREE THE SEEDS
monopolisation of $ € € D
 In 1985 global seed trade totalled 18 bn $
The four highest ranking companies covered 8
% of the market
 In 2006 global seed sales totalled 34 bn $
The top four companies held 30 % of the
market. Monsanto is global leader.
 In 2008 two thirds of commercial seed in the
world is sold by just ten companies.
Industrial seeds
 Uniform: not adapted to local
conditions
 High yields possible
 High imput: technology,
fertilizer, pesticides: energy
consuming crop
 selected for transportability,
Farm seeds
 Diverse: landraces adapted
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storage life
 Narrow resistance
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 Private variety (PBR or
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to local conditions
stable yields
low imput: efficient,
energy producing crop
Selected for nutritious
value, taste.
Broad resilience
Common variety
patented)
 Difficult to reproduce ,
biotech (GURTS) or legal
restrictions (IPRs)
 Fertile, reproducable
Welcome to the EU
 Only seeds listed in the Common Catalogue
can be used commercially
 Farm seeds/varieties are dynamic and evolve
with the circumstances in the field. They do
not meet the required industrial standards of
Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability
(DUS) .
Intellectual Property:
monopoly on reproduction
Restricting free seeds and diversity
IPR
WTO
TRIPS
UPOV
EPO
PBR
European Common Catalogue
Patents + food = trouble
- Market monopolies : price rises: corn, cotton
- Block innovation: breeders can’t develop a
patented plant further, researchers need
permission
- Re-sowing illegal: farmer has to buy new seed
-Stricter controls, higher penalties
- Each patented plant draws from common
genetic heritage
- Patent thickets: judicial jungle – wide range
- Holder can block patented varieties
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Melons
Sunflowers
Wrinkled tomatoes
Broccoli
Swine
etc.
July 2010:international
protest against the broccoli
patent at the European
Patent Office in Munchen
Farmers and activists
demand:
Exclude from patentability processes for
breeding, genetic material, plants and
animals and food derived thereof.
No patents on life!
Seed protest 2011
26 October 2011
Munchen EPO
Public hearing at the EPO November 8th
 European wide:
 Nyeleni forum
 SOS Save our Seeds
 European GM-free regions
 Liberate Diversity: Seed sovereignty network
 Countless seed saving farmers and amateurs
 Transition Towns , community gardens
 Via Campesina - Reclaim the Fields
etc etc