Seed laws GRAIN report

http://www.grain.org/fr/article/entries/5142-seed-laws-that-criminalise-farmers-resistance-and-fightback

Seed laws that criminalise farmers: resistance and fightback

Seeds are under attack everywhere. Under corporate pressure, laws in many countries increasingly put limitations on what farmers can do with their seeds and with the seeds they buy. Seed saving, a thousand-year-old practice which forms the basis of farming, is fast becoming criminalised. What can we do about this? 

From Devon Peña's blog: Seed Savers Exchange Statement on Seed Libraries and the CRG Safe Seed Pledge

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
http://ejfood.blogspot.com/2014/09/seed-sovereignty-seed-savers-exchange.html

Seeds. Jyoti Thomas. Source: absolutearts.com

Devon Peña’s Note: The Seed Savers Exchange has actively served the nation’s farmers, gardeners, plant breeders, and seed librarians since 1975 as a reliable source of non-GMO heirloom seed. The Seed Savers released a statement in support of seed libraries last week. I am reposting their eloquent declaration in defense of seed libraries; for the original, please visit the Seed Savers home page.

The statement makes a strong declaration of support for the principle tenet that seed saving is part of our deepest cultural heritage and people have been saving and sharing seeds for millennia. Moreover, “Despite what some institutions have suggested, seeds can be valuable, safe and healthy without laboratory germination tests or government licenses.”

Seed Sovereignty | Grassroots seed savers and libraries organize

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
http://ejfood.blogspot.com/2014/08/seed-sovereignty-grassroots-seed-savers.html

Seed libraries are one strategy to avoid the compression of seed

 biodiversity we have seen under the practices of commercial seed houses.

Seed Library Social Network calls for discourse

BIOPIRACY AND GMO BIOSAFETY MUST BE ADDRESSED

Devon G. Peña | Las Colonias de San Pablo, CO | August 31, 2014

On August 5, I reported on the closing down of a seed library in Pennsylvania by the state’s Department of Agriculture.  A week later, August 13, I posted an analysis and position paper on U.S. seed laws prepared by Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC).

Continuing with this series on Seed Sovereignty in the U.S., I am posting this call for a discussion of a National Seed Library Protocol prepared by Leslie Goldman affiliated with the Seed Library Social Network (SLSN). The call was posted on August 27 on the SLSN homepage. I have re-posted Leslie Goldman’s announcement and call for discussion below (unedited). Goldman also reports on initial email correspondence with state officials in Pennsylvania.

The Seed Map Project

http://seedmap.org/

Seedmap.org

Although, we rarely think about seeds, 9 out of every 10 bites of food we eat today start with seeds . And they are under incredible threat. Our planet has lost 75% of its plant genetic diversity between 1900 and 2000 , and 75% of our food is derived from only 12 plant and 5 animal species . The implications of this alarming biodiversity loss are serious and far-reaching, not only for food and nutrition security, but also for climate change adaptation, livelihoods and human survival. We need to act now to save biodiversity – nature’s brilliant insurance policy against disaster. That’s why we created seedmap.org

Notes

Seedmap.org: An online portal on seeds, biodiversity and food

Complete with news, resources, campaigns and an interactive online seed map, Seedmap.org is a valuable teaching & advocacy tool and reference point on seeds, biodiversity, and food.

The heart of Seedmap.org is an interactive map that lets you visit hundreds of case studies around the world where agricultural biodiversity originated, is threatened, and where people are working to safeguard it. Read more…

To download a printable poster of the 2013 Seed Map exploring where our food comes from (4 MB), click here (can be printed on paper up to 11 x 17).

About the Seed Map Project

In 2007, the update of a 1992 teaching kit evolved into a collaboration between USC Canada and ETC Group to create the hard copy wall-sized Seed Map. The Seed Map: Food, Farmers and Climate Chaos, chronicled the planet’s plant genetic wealth, how it is threatened, what are the solutions – all laid out in a physical map. It was a runaway success. More than 15,000 copies have travelled the world, in 7 languages.

We created Seedmap.org to replace the physical Seed Map and make it even more complete, up-to-date and interactive. Read more…

To download a printable poster of the 2013 Seed Map exploring where our food comes from (4 MB), click here (can be printed on paper up to 11 x 17).

SEED - A film by Hugo Perez

The year is 2022. After a decade of world famine and food riots, the Mendelian Corporation now bioengineers the world’s entire commercial supply of genetically modified seeds. This comes at the expense of outlawed natural “heirloom” seeds, with their susceptibility to disease viewed as a threat to a stable food supply. The Mendelian Corporation’s control of the food supply gives it great political clout, and it has used it to consolidate great power. Rural areas and farm country are now under a corporate marshal law, and the ban on “heirloom” seed has resulted in a black market, with “seed-runners” emerging to satisfy the underground market.

Young boys seeking to serve their country are encouraged to join the Mendelian Corporation’s Sprouts youth program. The Sprouts motto “Duty First” indicates that the security of the food supply comes above all else, and that a Sprout must remain vigilant at all times. At 12 years old, Juan (Sebastian Villada) is completely devoted to the Sprouts, and to Sprouts leader and local security chief Dick Phillips (Yul Vazquez). Under his tutelage, Juan — whose mother died in a food riot a decade earlier — routinely uses his electronic “seed-sniffer” to secretly inspect the crops on neighboring farms in search of “bad seeds.” On one otherwise average day, Juan is inspecting a cornfield on the Ballard Farm when he discovers a contaminated patch. The field is burned down and the farmer is arrested.

But young Juan is torn when he finds his father Mateo (Julian Acosta) in the family barn, meeting with a man he doesn’t recognize. Juan suspects the two men are collaborating as underground seed-runners. Mateo is disappointed in his son’s blind loyalty to the corporation, and Juan is conflicted about his suspicions regarding his father, but needs help making moral sense of this new world order. The young man struggles to juggle his alliances, and in the end, his choices may change his life forever.