UPOV 91 (the acronym for the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) has failed twice in Canada (1992 and 1998) but it looks like the Harper government may push it through this winter. Under the gobbledy-gook of legal language, it would be another victory for the transnational companies that seek to privatize agricultural supplies. Three companies -- Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta-- control over 50 per cent of the seed market worldwide. UPOV 91 would consolidate this power over intellectual property that formerly was a public resource -- seeds. The fight to stop UPOV 91 is led in part by the NFU. Terry Boehm, past president of the National Farmers Union explains: UPOV 91 is not about increasing plant varieties available to farmers as proponents suggest. What it is really about is stealing the genetic materials, refined for generations by farmers and public plant breeders, tweaking it slightly and then forcing farmers and citizens to pay them for the privilege of growing a crop. What the largest seed and chemical companies in the world want is a guaranteed revenue stream flowing to them from the backs of farmers. They will gain powerful control of the food we eat through the almost total control of seed that UPOV 91 grants them. Are we ready to trust Bayer, Monsanto, Du Pont and Syngenta with that kind of power? I think not! The fight against UPOV 91 is similar to the battle against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), the engineered seeds that are owned by transnational companies and cannot legally be saved to be replanted next year. If farmers plant these privately owned varieties after they drift onto their farm, or sell the harvest after accidentally planting them, they can be sued for stealing intellectual property. Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser learned this to his sorrow.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 11:46:01 +0000