Eden has also been involved in various projects relating to food and sustainability in her native Ohio. While many contain certain requirements for regulation of seeds, the language (and applicability) of these requirements varies. Food Tank is focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. Self-pollinating plants. – By controlling seeds, the bill takes the power to grow food away from the public and puts it in the hands of seed companies. You may also use the Bill Me option and pay $17.95 for 6 issues. Seed library defenders are reviewing the legal language to find loopholes that would permit seed libraries to function. – It makes it illegal to distribute “food” without authorisation, and it defines “food” in such a way that it includes nutrients, seeds, natural medicines, essential minerals and drinks (including water). For example, the Prelude red raspberry is patented, with a small royalty from each sale going back to the originators at the NY State Experiment Station. Anyone know the list of states where the legislation needs to be changed? All MOTHER EARTH NEWS community bloggers have agreed to follow our Blogging Guidelines, and they are responsible for the accuracy of their posts. Pffffffffft. Right? The penalty for violating this ridiculous law is a fine of up to $7,500 a day. To learn about your state’s seed laws, visit the American Seed Trade Association website. Seed libraries, initiatives that allow gardeners to share seeds with others in their community, have steadily gained popularity in the United States, with more than 400 seed libraries currently documented. You can usually tell if a variety you're buying is patented because it'll cost a little more than similar heirloom varieties and will likely mention the patent right there in the nursery catalog. My great aunt used to seed swap with people from all over the world, including China, Russia and Mexico. Also, pictures of them together. I have many letters and signed books that he sent her. Advocates of seed libraries are also closely examining existing seed laws to determine if current policies apply to seed libraries at all. By paying with a credit card, you save an additional $5 and get 6 issues of MOTHER EARTH NEWS for only $12.95 (USA only). She was a self-taught naturalist and was friends with John Burrows. Edit: Saving seeds is not illegal. In most states, there are rules that require tests of germination rates and weed-seed percentages any time seeds change hands. A seed library houses a community’s collection of seeds in a public place—often at an actual library. Sign in with your online account. Like so many other senseless laws, this rule needs to be put to rest. In agriculture lingo, the practice is known as "seed saving"; farmers had been doing it for millennia before Monsanto started demanding that farmers not do so with the company’s genetically modified, patented seeds. You can’t even give away seeds to someone in your own neighborhood under certain laws. She spent ten months at Navdanya’s Bija Vidyapeeth – a model organic farm, learning community, and biodiversity conservation center – learning about farmers’ experiences of agricultural change. Sad that it's come to making laws against it. How seed laws make farmers’ seeds illegal 1. While completing her undergraduate degree, she interned with local nonprofits working to promote food security, community gardening, traditional foodways, and seed saving. Accordingly, the USDA and state Departments of Agriculture are calling for the regulation of seed libraries. After all, free sharing of seeds is so valuable that the US Patent office used to spend nearly a third of their budget mailing out packets to farmers. Edit: Saving seeds is not illegal. To learn more about the author of this post, click on their byline link at the top of the page. If the seeds are small, cut the plant off with scissors and shake the seeds into a container to collect them. © 2013-2020 Food Tank. Saving Clearfield rice seed illegal Bob Scott | Aug 20, 2004 Some people call it “brown bagging,” “seed piracy” or just plain saving seed, but in production agriculture today it is illegal to save many of the types of seed that we use. You are forced into buying seed when it runs out. One of these rules, seed testing, may prove a serious obstacle for seed libraries: organizations simply may not have enough seeds of a given variety to satisfy the sample size required for testing. Wrong! These are laws if I ever saw them, that need and beg to be flouted. But surely you can give away packets of your great-grandmother's heirloom tomato seeds, right? African seeds: a treasure under threat Who says your great-grandmother's heirloom tomato seeds are any less valuable? State governments regulate seeds, so laws vary across the U.S. The displacement of peasant seeds is a process that has been gaining ground and speed around the world over the past decades. The … Growing them and selling them or just selling the seeds probably is if it's a specially developed seed. don't have an online A place where gardening, eating the fruit of your labours, and saving your seeds is illegal is some kind of bad, B-rated, Orwellian science fiction movie. Africa is awash with foreign governments pushing new public-private... 3. In 2013, Eden graduated from Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College with a B.S. An example is that of Scotch Broom. After the horrific fire season of 2017, I do not want to risk someone unknowingly planting the 'pretty ornamental' anywhere around me! There is chance that given sufficient influence from industry, new laws may be developed that will make seed saving illegal. Seed-preemption laws have been adopted in 29 states, including Oregon — one of the world’s top five seed-producing regions — California, Iowa, and Colorado. And while the sheriff likely won't be patrolling seed swaps in search of repeat offenders, this issue is a hurdle for homesteaders who might want to turn that unique variety they saved or developed into a microbusiness. Rather than imposing laws that uproot the age-old practice of seed … Tomatoes, peppers, beans and peas are good choices for seed saving. If not, they are either leaned on heavily and threatened with legal action, or actually sued for non-compliance and breaking their signed contract that is drawn-up between the company and the farmer when the GM seed is purchased. Canadian Subscribers - Click Here
The case was settled and in exchange for paying no monetary damages, Parr agreed to an injunction requiring Parr to obtain certification from his clients that their seeds were not Monsanto patented seeds and to advise clients that seed saving of patented seeds is illegal.
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