06/06/2013, 00:55

Breaking News -- EU Seed Legislation

On the 13th of June, the EU Commission will hold a conference in Brussels with the EU Parliament and EU Council to explain the package “smarter rules for safer food“; on seed marketing, plant pests, animal health and related official controls. The main lobby organization of the seed industry has already written a letter to MEPs:
www.seed-sovereignty.org/PDF/ESA_to_EU_Parliament.pdf

They are very satisfied with the proposal. This should alarm us!

They write “The proposals of the European Commission … pave the way for establishing a modern, dynamic, harmonised and simplified legal framework for seed.”
What does this mean?

In this context ”modern” means: the law is made for the demands of the seed industry, and for the production of high input/yield varieties, dependent on fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals in order to grow and give a good harvest. More and more they use “modern” biotechnology, which are not classified as “classic” genetic manipulation, and so don't require special labeling. We demand transparency in breeding methods!

“Dynamic” probably refers to the many delegated acts, more than 30. With these delegated acts the Commission reserves the right to change the details of the legislation at a later date by committee vote. The ESA itself correctly calls the proposal a “legal framework for seed”. We demand the EU Parliament should vote on the final law now! They should not adopt a legal framework that is later defined by industry dominated committees.

“Harmonised” must refer to the fact that this law will be enacted simultaneously in all EU states. This is for the benefit of transnational corporations of the seed and agrochemical industries; they want to sell to a common market. We demand the EU states have the final say to adapt the law to local demands of agriculture and horticulture.

The ESA welcomes the alleged “farmers’ access to the best plant varieties to improve their productivity”. We question the idea that the varieties of the seed industry are the best. They are the ones adopted to agrochemicals and to industrial agriculture and processing of food. These are not best adopted to local soil and climate, not best adopted to small scale agriculture or to the demands of the tastes of people. The ESA does not tell us the true costs of their industrial seed production: the farmers loss of ability to produce seeds and other propagating material by themselves, the loss of fertility of soil and the loss of the fauna and flora in the forests and fields through the use of agrochemicals.

We demand farmers and gardeners should be able and allowed to produce their own seeds and propagating material, without any restrictions and without any mandatory registration of operators, without any mandatory registration of plant varieties and without any mandatory registration of seed lots!

You don't need such a restrictive and bureaucratic legislation to produce healthy seed of high quality, even the seed industry doesn't need that, do they? That the ESA welcomes the proposals shows how unsure they are of their own seeds. They are afraid of free competition with farmers seeds, with ecological seeds and with seeds of diversity. ESA demands this restrictive and bureaucratic legislation, because the administrative burdens can only be covered by seed multinationals with their huge sales volume of seeds of their varieties. By this way the proposed seed legislation is strengthening the already alarming concentration in the seed market.

The cheer of the ESA is an alarm signal for peasant seed production, for breeding of organic varieties and for the preservation and development of seeds of variety.

Sincerely
Andreas Riekeberg

Campaign for Seed-Sovereignty
www.seed-sovereignty.org/EN/

P.S.: Please forward this link to friends to sign the petition www.openpetition.de/petition/online/seed-diversity-under-threat-no-european-seed-regulations-for-the-benefit-of-the-seed-industry#googtrans(de%7Cen) (including the brackets)

05/22/2013, 00:03

Dear supporter of the petition „Seed diversity under threat“!

Thank you for supporting our petition! Three weeks ago it went online, and the English version now has some 7000 signatures. In total, in more than 17 languages, we now have over 37.000 signatures from all over Europe and beyond.

On Monday the 6th of May, the EU Commission approved a propoosal of the Plant Reproductive Material (PRM) marketing regulation, based on an earlier Nov 2012 draft criticized by our petition. The proposal however includes a provision for „niche“ varieties, and this is only due to the pressures collectively put on the politicians.

There are a number of criticisms of this proposal, see for example the press release of Arche Noah www.saatgutkampagne.org/130507_press_release_Arche_Noah.PDF and the press release of the German umbrella organisation for crop and livestock biodiversity, "Seed that can be saved is disappearing from the market" kulturpflanzen-nutztiervielfalt.org/seed-can-be-saved-disappearing-market .

The demands of our petition stand, and will now be directed to the members of the EU Parliament and EU Council of Ministers.

Ahead of the vote on 6 May, six commissioners were informed about the petition as well as the current number of signatures on each of the languages. We demanded they reject the regulation, but it passed regardless.

It is now important to emphasize the demands that a new EU seed regulation must create the right conditions for seeds of diversity, farm bred varieties and varieties uniquely suited for organic culture by virtue of their genetic diversity. In the coming weeks and months we will count on your help for this, as we talk to member of the EU Parliament and/or stand up in other ways politically for our demands.

For the petition written in other languages, please see here: www.seed-sovereignty.org/EN/

Sincerely,
Andreas Riekeberg

04/28/2013, 03:19

layout
Neuer Petitionstext: Esteemed Members of the Commission,
Esteemed Members of the Parliament,
Esteemed Members of the Council!

New seed regulations are currently being drafted in Brussels. If the Directorate General for Health and Consumers’ plans become a reality, more old and rare varieties of fruits, vegetables and grains will disappear from the market. These diverse varieties and varieties adapted to organic agriculture are to be hampered by bureaucracy, while the power of corporate agriculture is further strengthened.

The currently available texts for the new EU seed regulation will promote a concentration of the seed market into the hands of a small number of seed industry corporations. This is unacceptable. A new EU seed regulation must allow diversity varieties, varieties for small-scale farming and ecologically adapted breeding. Diverse varieties must be available not only in gene banks, but on the open market too, without any bureaucratic restrictions.

Therefore we demand: no obligation for registration! Besides this, the current registration criteria must be lowered for varieties suitable for organic farming by virtue of their diversity, so our agriculture remains adaptable to climate change, new pests and diseases, as well as more environmentally friendly lifestyles.

Neither the current EU seed law nor the presently available informally submitted drafts for legal changes to the law fulfil these requirements. They threaten seed diversity and thereby mankind’s common agricultural heritage. They also threaten sustainable food systems and exist only to serve the agrochemical industry.

We urge you, EU Commission, Parliament and Council members, to reject any proposal that does not fulfil the above mentioned criteria!
No more destruction of agricultural and horticultural seed diversity in Europe!

For more information visit:

Campaign for Seed-Sovereignty www.seed-sovereignty.org

German umbrella organisation for crop and livestock diversity („Dachverband Kulturpflanzen- und Nutztiervielfalt e.V.“):
www.kulturpflanzen-nutztiervielfalt.org/node/29

German Association for the conservation of crop plants („Verein zur Erhaltung der Nutzpflanzenvielfalt e.V.“):
www.nutzpflanzenvielfalt.de

Patrick Wiebe’s Blog: www.bifurcatedcarrots.eu/