Today, just four multinational corporations (BASF, Bayer-Monsanto, Corteva and Syngenta) control 75% of plant breeding research, 60% of the commercial seed market, and 76% of global agrochemical sales. Patented and protected seeds cannot be saved, replanted, or shared by farmers and gardeners.
This has costs. The world has lost about 75% of its crop diversity in the last 100 years. “A huge wealth of locally adapted crops is being replaced by standardized varieties. And experts warn that could have grave consequences for food security — especially as the planet heats up.”
Seed laws “criminalize farmers for using diverse crops that stand a better chance of adapting to climate change.” Usually, seed buyers must sign agreements that prohibit them from saving seeds from their crops to exchange or resow the following year. And because there is no research exemption for patented material, plant breeders at universities and small seed companies cannot use patented seed to create new crop varieties.
By saving and selecting local seeds each year, communities and farms can become more resilient to drought and impeding climate disasters. That’s where the seed sovereignty movement comes in.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/07/opinion/sunday/dan-barber-seed-companies.html
A growing number of independent seed companies have signed on to the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) Pledge.
“OSSI works with plant breeders who commit to making one or more of their varieties available exclusively under the OSSI Pledge: You have the freedom to use these OSSI-Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others’ use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this Pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.“
Many of the people working in seed sovereignty are indigenous, from around the world, or are doing so in partnership with indigenous peoples.
Some of the seeds I have here today are from Fruition Seeds, located in the Finger Lakes region of New York, an area with a sizeable indigenous population. Their seeds are nearly all open source, and they have been developed for the local climate (shorter growing season, cold-resistant, resistant to common regional diseases).
https://www.instagram.com/p/CjimrdUrpVp/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY%3D
Beyond the world of agriculture and agribusiness, preserving the seed supply and biodiversity of native flora is also important.
https://www.ubs.com/global/en/sustainability-impact/globalvisionaries/news/2022/seed-banking.html
Urban Farming
“More people than ever are growing food in cities, which happen to be where most of the world’s people now live. In windowsills, on rooftops and in community gardens, they’re burying seeds in Havana, Kinshasa and Hanoi—and in Chicago, Milwaukee and Atlanta. Novella Carpenter’s 2009 memoir, Farm City, trumpets the value of raising chickens, pigs and bees—in Oakland.”
Urban farms ‘critical’ to combat hunger and adapt to climate change
See if there are any farms near you.
With all that said… let’s start some seeds! By the end of the semester, you should all have a handful of seedlings that you can take home and plant—in a pot on your windowsill, on your rood, in your backyard if you’re lucky enough to have one.