In an effort to protect the natural integrity of seeds, to protect the freedom to save seeds, and to help preserve the ability to be able to plant seeds from season-to-season that will re-germinate in accordance with the sustainable cycles of nature, the Seed Freedom movement has planned two weeks of advocacy and awareness-raising activities. From October 2-16, the world is being asked to take a stand against the efforts of corporate agriculture who have increasingly worked to undermine seed freedom. The production of hybrid seeds very often creates sterile varieties of crops that farmers are unable to save and replant, forcing them into economic dependence on seed companies for the annual re-purchasing of seed stock. Now, corporate agriculture has taken this even one step further with companies such as Monsanto genetically engineering seeds that self-destruct (terminator technology) in each successive season, therefore ensuring the farmer’s dependency upon these companies.
Never Ending Food has signed on to the ‘Declaration of Seed Freedom’ which was created by Dr. Vandana Shiva, the internationally recognized advocate for sustainable farming (and common sense) practices throughout the world. Seed Freedom has also issued a Seed Saving Kit for people who want more information on what is happening to the world’s seed supplies and what they can do to help. Here is the PDF version of this kit: Seed-Kit
The following is the “Declaration on Seed Freedom” by Dr. Vandana Shiva that Never Ending Food has committed to and that we would encourage all of you all to support as well. This is a great opportunity to get involved with the activities of the Seed Freedom movement and to help to ensure that sustainable and natural systems are preserved to meet the needs of humanity long into the future:
Seed is the source of life, it is the self urge of life to express itself, to renew itself, to multiply, to evolve in perpetuity in freedom.
Seed is the embodiment of bio cultural diversity. It contains millions of years of biological and cultural evolution of the past, and the potential of millennia of a future unfolding.
Seed Freedom is the birth right of every form of life and is the basis for the protection of biodiversity. Seed Freedom is the birth right of every farmer and food producer. Farmers rights to save, exchange, evolve, breed, sell seed is at the heart of Seed Freedom. When this freedom is taken away farmers get trapped in debt and in extreme cases commit suicide.
Seed Freedom is the basis of Food Freedom, since seed is the first link in the food chain. Seed Freedom is threatened by patents on seed, which create seed monopolies and make it illegal for farmers to save and exchange seed. Patents on seed are ethically and ecologically unjustified because patents are exclusive rights granted for an invention. Seed is not an invention. Life is not an invention.
Seed Freedom of diverse cultures is threatened by Biopiracy and the patenting of indigenous knowledge and biodiversity. Biopiracy is not innovation – it is theft. Seed Freedom is threatened by genetically engineered seeds, which are contaminating our farms, thus closing the option for GMO-free food for all.
Seed Freedom of farmers is threatened when after contaminating our crops, corporations sue farmer for “stealing their property”.
Seed Freedom is threatened by the deliberate transformation of the seed from a renewable self generative resource to a non renewable patented commodity. The most extreme case of non renewable seed is the “Terminator Technology” developed with aim to create sterile seed.
We commit ourselves to defending seed freedom as the freedom of diverse species to evolve; as the freedom of human communities to reclaim open source seed as a commons.
To this end, we will save seed, we will create community seed banks and seed libraries, we will not recognize any law that illegitimately makes seed the private property of corporations. and we will stop the patents on seed.
