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nafex - [NAFEX] Re: nafex Digest, Vol 24, Issue 43

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  • From: BRosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Re: nafex Digest, Vol 24, Issue 43
  • Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 19:39:05 -0500

My solution is not to buy seeds if I can help it from the "big guys" but to support the local and regional seed (and plant) companies.  I am always on the lookout for good small sellers. Usually excellence is in small and medium sized packages.  I participate in swaps and do everything I can not to buy from those with the "bigger is the only way" mentality.  I feel they are suicidal (or fatal), because constant growth is non-sustainable.  I am noticing that some of the OP seed sold by the big companies is becoming variable - meaning whoever is growing it is not being real careful about purity.  I asked Seed Savers Exchange about parentage one time, and they were able to tell me the exact size of the parent crop of the seeds they were selling.

Looking at the EU, they are certainly not perfect, but in fairness, they have more or less not permitted the wholesale introduction of GM foods without safety testing, unlike the U.S.  So if our companies are shut out, and the EU is passing restrictive legislation, it is because of this incredible power struggle going on (led by Monsanto et. al) for control of world food - right down to making sure the US got the law passed in Iraq that prevents the farmers from legally saving their own seed. (Another diplomatic coup with the Arab world.)  But you guys know all this.  If you don't, subscribe to ACRES USA for a year - very informative.

Barbara Rosholdt
Zone 6c/7a
Seed saver/Fruit Explorer
Territorial has an awful lot of open-pollinated seeds.  I
can't believe they are buying them from Seminis.  I sent for
Seminis' literature at one point, and they sell hybrids
mainly (no surprise).

I'd want accurate information before I participated in any
boycott.

I agree though:  it's not good news for gardeners or seed
savers.  Very bad news, in fact.  

In the EU, seed cannot be sold to the public unless it is
registered with the EU, a procedure that costs thousands of
dollars per variety, each year*.  This effectively
eliminates not only small seed selling companies, but also
organizations such as the Seed Savers Exchange. 

Regulations such as that also, of course, strongly act
against the maintenance of genetic diversity.

Pat

[* My source for this statement can be found at:
http://www.vidaverde.co.uk/terms.html - scroll down to the
section entitled 'Our Seed Club'.  Vida Verde is in the UK,
and the UK government is probably quite willing to turn a
blind eye to EU regulations:  much more willing than our
government would be to turn a blind eye to the violation of
regulations that benefit corporations such as Monsanto.  I
knew this from other sources, as well.]







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