permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Svalbard Doomsday Vault: Biopiracy by U. N. Treaty

https://ppjg.me/2010/10/04/svalbard-doomsday-vault-biopiracy-by-u-n-treaty/

October 4, 2010

ppjg <https://ppjg.wordpress.com> GMO
<https://ppjg.me/category/farming-food/gmo/>, united nations
<https://ppjg.me/category/united-nations/> Amy Goldman
<https://ppjg.me/tag/amy-goldman/>, FAO <https://ppjg.me/tag/fao/>, genetic
preservation <https://ppjg.me/tag/genetic-preservation/>, global crop
diversity <https://ppjg.me/tag/global-crop-diversity/>, heirloom seeds
<https://ppjg.me/tag/heirloom-seeds/>, Kent Wheatly
<https://ppjg.me/tag/kent-wheatly/>, seed savers
<https://ppjg.me/tag/seed-savers/>, Svalbard seed vault
<https://ppjg.me/tag/svalbard-seed-vault/>, united nations
<https://ppjg.me/tag/united-nations/> 9 Comments
<https://ppjg.me/2010/10/04/svalbard-doomsday-vault-biopiracy-by-u-n-treaty/#comments>

Speech delivered by Kent Whealy regarding the theft of heirloom seeds, the
results of many years of heirloom seed saving, now deposited into the
Svalbard Seed vault and controlled now by the FAO.  This collection was the
former Seed-savers Exchange.

_______________________________________________________

*Goldman and Fowler are being dishonest – to Seed Savers’ Members and in
the avalanche of self-promotion from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the
entity that oversees Svalbard – by concealing the fact that being deposited
in Svalbard places Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection under the control
of the United Nations’ FAO Treaty, which was specifically designed to
facilitate access by corporate breeders.*

*__________________________________________*

For past three years, Amy Goldman (Chair of the Board of the Seed Savers
Exchange) and Cary Fowler (Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity
Trust) have been depositing portions of Seed Savers Members’ Seed
Collection into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the far north of Norway.
Goldman and Fowler are being dishonest – to Seed Savers’ Members and in the
avalanche of self-promotion from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the
entity that oversees Svalbard – by concealing the fact that being deposited
in Svalbard places Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection under the control
of the United Nations’ FAO Treaty, which was specifically designed to
facilitate access by corporate breeders.

Goldman and Fowler targeted an exemplary U.S. nonprofit in order to gain
control of and then misappropriate Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection of
26,000 varieties, by far the best collection of heirloom garden crops in
the world. The grassroots movement to collect those genetic resources
started 35 years ago. In 1975 I founded the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) and
for 33 years was its Executive Director. I created and published the
nonprofit organization’s yearbooks which have listed the names and
addresses of up to 1,000 SSE Members who annually offered samples of 12,000
garden varieties to other gardeners and farmers.

During the 33 years that I guided Seed Savers, 3,500 Members offered 33,000
family heirlooms and rare garden varieties through the annual editions of
Seed Savers Yearbook. Over the years SSE’s Members have distributed an
estimated 1,000,000 samples of rare garden seeds often on the verge of
extinction. That selfless sharing has resulted in SSE’s beautiful flavorful
heirlooms spreading rapidly throughout Farmers’ Markets and CSAs
nationwide, being widely used by chefs sourcing local foods, and has
provided the foundations and resources for numerous alternative seed
companies. In 1986 I made the first of five land purchases for SSE
(eventually totaling 886 acres) which established Heritage Farm near
Decorah, Iowa as SSE’s national headquarters. Nonprofit donations from
SSE’s Members quickly paid off Heritage Farm’s land contracts and also
provided the majority of the funds for a $600,000 complex of offices,
greenhouses and seed storage facilities.

 Each year many of SSE’s Members and thousands of visitors tour Heritage
Farm’s genetic preservation projects, which include: 26 acres of certified
organic Preservation Gardens; Historic Orchard containing 700 varieties of
pre-1900 apples and 200 hardy grapes; and two herds of endangered Ancient
White Park cattle, the rarest breed of cattle in the English-speaking
world. (You might say they are extremely rare, as opposed to medium-rare. .
. . .sorry. . . . .sometimes I just can’t help myself.)

SSE started maintaining a central seed collection in 1981, as a back-up
strategy so that SSE’s Members could always get their seeds back if lost.
Those members generously donated their family’s seeds to Seed Savers
Members’ Seed Collection which steadily grew to 26,000 rare varieties by
2007. Each summer 10% of those varieties were multiplied on a 10-year
rotation (about 2,000 varieties annually) and those newly grown seeds were
made available to SSE’s Members and the gardening public. SSE’s system of
growouts was specifically designed so that SSE’s Members would have
revolving access to new seed of the entire collection over a 10-year period.

Seed Savers quickly became recognized as the greatest source of unique
plant material that North American gardeners have ever known. Numerous
awards for the genetic preservation 7 projects I initiated have included a
MacArthur Fellowship and Russia’s N. I. Vavilov Medal for organizing and
funding 12 plant collection expeditions from 1993 through 1997 in
genetically rich, but critically endangered areas of the former Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe.

 During SSE’s annual growouts, hundreds of exceptional garden varieties
were discovered. Nonprofits are allowed to generate “project-related
revenue” if aligned with their mission, so in 1999 SSE started selling
packets of heirloom seeds through Seed Savers Catalog. My stated goal was
for the revenue from seed sales to eventually cover the annual costs of
permanently maintaining Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection. By 2006, only
eight years later, net revenue from seed sales had already grown to $1.2
million and was supporting 72% of SSE’s operations. (And only two years
after that, due to the economic meltdown, SSE’s net seed sales doubled to
$2.4 million.) Financial self-sufficiency was in sight and the final step
of building endowments to always support SSE’s genetic preservation
projects had just begun.

Amy Goldman and Cary Fowler, however, both had their own personal agendas
for the Seed Savers Exchange and for Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection.
But how could they possibly take over Seed Savers, especially at the height
of its success, in order to place Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection in
his Svalbard Doomsday Vault, when they both knew that I would never agree?
That involved years of manipulation and deceit, which all began in 2002
when Amy Goldman was asked to be on SSE’s Board of Directors because of her
funding of SSE’s projects.

For years she sat silently in the background at board meetings, while
quietly starting to fund the projects of existing board members and even
some of SSE’s Advisors, and later placed others financially beholden to her
on SSE’s Board.

In March of 2007, Amy Goldman became Chair of the Board, after
“temporarily” removing me from SSE’s Board of Directors. On October 21,
2007, board members Amy Goldman and Neil Hamilton, plus a labor lawyer and
Goldman’s bodyguard, terminated me without warning, locked me out of my
office and banished me from SSE’s property, all based on the fabricated
charge that I had “built a storage shed without the permission of SSE’s
Board.”

I was asked to sign a truly disgusting 13-page Separation and
Confidentiality Agreement that would have paid me salary and benefits worth
$240,000, but only if I agreed to never say a word about Seed Savers, never
again speak about seeds, give up all access to and usage of my speeches,
writings, photos, correspondence and research, and never again be on SSE’s
Board.

 I refused, unwilling to sign away my voice or to take a penny of their
hush money, appalled at their attempt to use SSE’s financial resources in
that manner.

Neil Hamilton is the Director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake
University whose “Garden Policy Conference” at Drake University Law School
in October 2006 was funded by the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust (Amy
Goldman is the sole trustee). For three years Neil Hamilton has legally
empowered and protected Amy Goldman, and his legal expertise has enabled
this entire fiasco.

Only three weeks after I was fired, SSE’s Board published extensively
revised Bylaws that eliminated ARTICLE III – Members Rights, Benefits and
Obligations, taking control away from the staff set up to serve SSE’s
Members and giving it to Goldman. SSE’s revised Bylaws also made
foreign-based board members legal, which allowed her to place Cary Fowler
on SSE’s Board. Together they proudly announced that 485 varieties from
Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection would be deposited at Svalbard’s
official opening in February of 2008 and that more annual deposits would
follow until about 9,000 out of SSE’s 26,000 varieties (only those unique
to SSE’s collection) have been deposited. Later the Lillian Goldman
Charitable Trust made a $1,000,000 donation to the Global Crop Diversity
Trust, which most 8 likely got Amy Goldman the attention and publicity she
so craves at Svalbard’s one-year anniversary dinner.

None of these major organizational changes or the financial relationships
between SSE’s board members have ever been disclosed in SSE’s nonprofit tax
reports, as required by law. SSE’s Board has refused to make public the
documents signed with Cary Fowler and has lied to SSE’s Members through
their publications and website about the true nature of Svalbard and the
obligations the FAO Treaty places on SSE. All depositors must sign the
Svalbard Depositors Agreement which places the deposited varieties under
control of the United Nations’ International Treaty on Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture (the FAO Treaty), Article 7 of which
states,

“The Depositor agrees to make available from their own stocks samples of
accessions of the deposited plant genetic resources and associated
available non-confidential information to other natural or legal persons in
accordance with the following terms and conditions. . . . .” The agreement
goes on to dictate that “original samples”

(meaning all other seeds of the varieties deposited in Svalbard that are
also in storage in the seed vaults at Heritage Farm) are also covered by
the FAO Treaty. By signing the treaty, SSE cannot refuse any requests for
seeds of deposited varieties from “Contracting Parties.” Corporate breeders
now can, as a right, request those varieties from SSE’s seed vaults at
Heritage Farm, splice in GMOs, then patent and sell the seed. Indeed, a
1.1% tax on patents of “derivatives” of the varieties deposited in Svalbard
is the main way that the FAO Treaty will generate its funding. Svalbard has
never been a necessary step for SSE – duplicate samples of Seed Savers
Members’ Seed Collection were already being stored in a separate
underground seed vault at Heritage Farm, as insurance against fire and
tornadoes, plus duplicate samples are also in “black box storage” at the
National Seed Storage Lab in Fort Collins, Colorado. (Black box storage
means that the seeds belong entirely to SSE, are being stored only against
catastrophic loss, and can be returned upon request.)

When confronted with my concerns about Svalbard, SSE issued a statement
claiming its seeds in Svalbard are only in black box storage, belong
entirely to SSE and cannot be distributed, patenting cannot occur, SSE can
get its seeds back upon request, and SSE has the signed contracts stating
all that. The argument about SSE’s seeds being strictly in black box
storage is a deliberate deception.

While it is true that the samples of the seeds actually stored in Svalbard
cannot be distributed, linking those deposits to the FAO Treaty is what
facilitates the distribution of those same varieties stored in Heritage
Farm’s seed vaults. Numerous deceptive statements throughout Svalbard’s
flood of self-promotion are all based on that lie. A more extensive letter,
posted later and still on SSE’s website, claims there is no linkage between
the Svalbard’s Depositors Agreement and the FAO Treaty, which is an
outright lie. The unsigned letter also claims that SSE’s actions are simply
adhering to “emerging international norms,” but the truth is that out of
1,470 seed banks worldwide, SSE is one of only 29 that have placed their
seeds in Svalbard and the only non-governmental or non-international seed
bank to do so.

SSE’s members have been lied to repeatedly that participation with Svalbard
is entirely free, never mentioning the estimated $200,000 for additional
personnel and software needed to mesh SSE’s computers with the USDA’s
GRIN-Global network. Other lies include telling SSE’s Members that fears
about Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection being made available for
corporate breeding and patenting are unfounded and will never actually
happen. Being written into the FAO Treaty means it will eventually happen,
exactly the same way the rights of farmers to save their own seeds have
gradually been made illegal by similar treaties. 9 SSE’s publications have
highly touted the new chat room set up for SSE’s Members, but any questions
concerning SSE’s relationship with Svalbard or my termination are being
strictly censored.

Dozens of SSE’s Members have had their postings deleted and have been
warned about being permanently banned if they ever attempt to place such
“confidential information” on SSE’s website again. Cary Fowler, however,
has made extensive use of SSE’s website and chat room to defend Svalbard
and to simply dismiss me as a “conspiracy theorist” (and then he even went
on to discuss the 6% of the U.S. population who still don’t believe that
the moon landing happened)

After my 33 years of hard work developing the Seed Savers Exchange and Seed
Savers Members’ Seed Collection, how truly disgusting! Right now Cary
Fowler is moving heaven and earth to place as many seed collections as
possible under the control of the FAO Treaty. Back in 1990 he co-authored
Shattering: Food, Politics and the Loss of Genetic Diversity and was also
involved in projects to create community seed banks in developing
countries. But today none of those indigenous seed banks would ever think
of turning over their village’s genetic heritage to Svalbard and the FAO
Treaty.

For 26 years Cary Fowler watched as I put together the best collection of
heirloom food crops in the world, but he never said one word to me about
putting Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection into Svalbard, dealing instead
with Amy Goldman behind the scenes. And now his press releases proudly
state that even NGOs are getting involved with Svalbard! Despite Cary
Fowler’s rhetoric about protecting genetic resources, Svalbard is nothing
more than legalized biopiracy by U.N. treaty! His Trojan horse publicity is
all designed to focus attention strictly on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
and its claims of saving the world’s food production from climate change
and nuclear catastrophe, with never any mention of the FAO Treaty.

Truth be known, Svalbard is the largest corporate seed grab in the history
of the world! Amy Goldman is also on the Board of the New York Botanical
Garden which wisely and rightfully has ignored the FAO Treaty and adheres
instead to the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity (the
CBD Treaty) signed by 191 countries in Rio in 1995. But the U.S. government
has steadfastly refused to ratify the CBD Treaty because it endorses
national sovereignty over seeds and recognizes the intellectual property
rights of indigenous farmers with whom it attempts to provide revenue
sharing.

The FAO Treaty falsely claims to be “in harmony with the CBD Treaty” but
doesn’t even recognize “country of origin.” The FAO Treaty also deceptively
describes numerous benefits to be “shared fairly and equitably” with
“farmers in all countries, especially in developing countries,” but Article
13.2(d)(ii) negates that hollow rhetoric by confirming that any benefit
sharing will be “voluntary.”

The U.S. hasn’t ratified the FAO Treaty yet, but the USDA’s National Plant
Germplasm System has already deposited 41,390 accessions into Svalbard,
including many Mexican varieties. Numerous developing countries who do not
accept the FAO Treaty have seen samples from their countries placed in
Svalbard and under the FAO Treaty without their permission. For example,
95,722 Mexican varieties have been deposited in Svalbard even though Mexico
hasn’t signed the FAO Treaty. Indeed, the real purpose of Svalbard (far
from being just safe storage) is to allow national seed banks in the
developed countries – like the USDA and the CGIAR International
Agricultural Research Institutes which all hold vast collections from other
countries – to deposit those samples in Svalbard and under the control of
the FAO Treaty without national permission. Also, derivatives created from
duplicates of the samples deposited in Svalbard can be patented without
knowledge or permission of the country of origin.10

Many dozens of times over the years, I was always so pleased whenever a
seed donor or the child of an SSE Member would ask for their family’s seeds
back, because in every case Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection was able
to make that happen. Likewise, USDA and the CGIAR Institutes have always
proudly returned samples unconditionally to restock national farming after
disasters, but not anymore! In the future every distribution of duplicates
of the samples deposited in Svalbard will require signing a Standard
Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) linked to the FAO Treaty, so that
patented derivatives can be tracked and taxed. If countries or their
farmers (or Seed Savers’ Members) want samples returned to replace lost
varieties, even if they originally donated that seed, under the rules of
the FAO Treaty they will have to sign away any former rights (see Article 6
of the SMTA.) Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection is a truly a “peoples’
seed bank,” similar to collections of traditional seeds being maintained by
countless villages of indigenous farmers worldwide.

After slowly building trust in SSE for a decade, I was deeply moved when
Native American gardeners began offering their sacred seeds through SSE’s
Yearbooks. Over the years 140 Native American varieties were offered by
members of nearly 50 different tribes (50 sovereign nations) which include:
Abnaki, Acoma, Algonquin, Anasazi, Apache, Arikara, Cherokee, Chippewa,
Choctaw, Cochiti, Colville, Coschatta, Delaware, Gila, Havasupai, Hidatsa,
Hopi, Iroquois, Lakota, Lenape, Mandan, Mesquakie, Miami, Mohave, Mohawk,
Munsi, Narragansett, Navajo, Nez Pierce, Odawa, Omaha, Osage, Paiute,
Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Pima, Powhatan, Seminole, Seneca, Tamaroa, Taos,
Tarahumara, Tesuque, Tohono O’odham, Tuscarora, Wampanogg, Winnebago, Yokut
and Zuni. In 2005 I supplied my friend Gary Nabhan with samples of all the
Hopi varieties in SSE’s collection, which – along with the Hopi varieties
being maintained by Native Seeds/SEARCH – were given back to the Hopi in a
ceremony that was the largest repatriation of native seeds in history. The
following summer I included in the growouts at Heritage Farm most of the
Native American varieties in SSE’s collection in anticipation of also
repatriating those seeds to their tribes. My previously voiced concern that
Native American seeds might be deposited in Svalbard was recently answered
on SSE’s website which defiantly proclaims that SSE’s deposit this year
will include Arikara watermelon and Algonquin pumpkin.

For the last three years, all of the statistics about the seed collection
have been removed from SSE’s publications and seed catalog to prevent SSE’s
Members from knowing exactly what has been stolen from them. In order to
document what is at stake, Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection at the time
of my termination included: 160 amaranth, 5,300 bean, 220 beet, 60
broccoli, 30 Brussels sprout, 220 cabbage, 270 carrot, 170 cauliflower, 40
celeriac, 60 celery, 260 Chinese cabbage, 180 chicory, 900 corn, 350
cowpea, 300 cucumber, 230 eggplant, 180 endive, 200 fava, 150 gourd, 110
kale, 50 kohlrabi, 140 leek, 1,100 lettuce, 290 lima, 580 melon, 100
mustard, 140 okra, 200 common onion (and seeds of 150 perennial onion), 130
parsley, 80 parsnip, 1,200 pea, 40 peanut, 2,440 pepper, 310 radish, 250
runner bean, 70 rutabaga, 50 sorghum, 220 soybean, 150 spinach, 1,310
squash, 210 sunflower, 100 Swiss chard, 40 tepary bean, 20 tomatillo, 6,200
tomato, 90 turnip and 320 watermelon (for a total of more than 26,000
garden varieties). And that doesn’t include any of the perennial
collections being maintained at Heritage Farm: 700 varieties of pre-1900
apples, 200 hardy grapes, 300 garlic and 130 horseradish.

Those totals don’t begin to describe the richness of Seed Savers Members’
Seed Collection. I spent three solid years from 1981 to 1984 inventorying
and compiling the descriptions of every 11 non-hybrid vegetable variety
being offered by mail-order seed catalogs in the U.S. and Canada. The first
edition of my Garden Seed Inventory was published in 1984 with updated
editions every few years – the Sixth Edition was published in 2004. I
designed those inventories to identify varieties in danger of being
dropped, so that samples could be purchased using the revenue from each
edition. I also wrote the grants that allowed SSE to sponsor 12 plant
collecting expeditions in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union from
1993 through 1997, which resulted in 4,000 traditional varieties from about
30 eastern countries (and Cuba) flowing into SSE’s seed collection. But the
vast majority of Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection has always been
unique heirloom varieties requested annually from each Seed Savers
Yearbook.

 Amy Goldman is still loudly professing her dedication to SSE’s members,
even though her “Big Picture Thinking” (better described as “big photo op
thinking”) is gradually destroying their access to their own seed
collection. SSE’s Board recently held “confidential” (secret) discussions
to decide just how much of Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection will
actually be maintained. Svalbard is only interested in the 9,000 varieties
that are “unique to SSE’s collection” (those that the USDA’s GRIN Global
computer system determines are not in other government collections). That
subset has already become the new focus of Heritage Farm’s growouts.
Instead of SSE’s previous system – growing 10% of the collection each year
on a 10-year rotation to provide SSE’s members with revolving access to all
26,000 varieties – Heritage Farm’s nonprofit facilities have now
essentially become a growout station for Svalbard!

Seed Savers mission has always been to rescue heirloom and endangered
garden crops, and those genetic resources have never been more desperately
needed than right now to respond to climate change. The multiple threats
Cary Fowler uses to justify Svalbard’s existence would be better served if
Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection remained freely available as intended.
The heirloom varieties donated by SSE’s Members and the endangered
commercial varieties rescued using the six editions of the Garden Seed
Inventory include the best garden varieties we will ever see.

Unlike today’s plant breeding, most of the varieties in SSE’s collection
were developed before the chemical era and grow well without the use of
chemicals (plus have never been exposed to GMO contamination). Organic
growers in the U.S. – whether home gardeners, CSA operators, restaurant
suppliers or farmers’ market growers – are the ones who will be hurt the
most by SSE’s needless relationship with Svalbard. What has Seed Savers
gained from its affiliation with Svalbard? Absolutely nothing! But the
damage has been immense.

Amy Goldman and SSE’s Board have created a protective wall of secrecy –
“That’s confidential. We can’t talk about that.” They have lied to SSE’s
Advisors, Members, funders and donors, and maliciously attacked those who
disagree with their actions. My voice as a critic of the patenting of life
and agricultural genetic manipulation has been silenced. The brutal way I
was terminated and subsequent lies by SSE’s Board defending their actions
have destroyed the trust of SSE’s Members that I spent 33 years building.
Their trumped up charges, slander and defamation of me have alienated SSE’s
Members and donors, and severely damaged SSE’s financial future: long-term
funders no longer trust that SSE’s projects will be maintained, bequests
are being rethought and possible endowments have evaporated.

SSE’s greatest treasure was its collection of 26,000 vegetable varieties,
donated mainly by 3,500 SSE Members who for 33 years selflessly shared
their families’ heirloom seeds. That incredibly rich legacy – the greatest
genetic resource that North American gardeners have ever known – has been
stolen from SSE’s Members and is being systematically turned over to the
U.N.’s FAO Treaty designed to facilitate access by multinational
corporations, not by gardeners and farmers. 12

Amy Goldman has traded Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection for an
international photo op in the permafrost beside the Svalbard Doomsday
Vault. For three long years her misuse of SSE’s nonprofit resources has
been legally enabled and empowered by Neil Hamilton, while Cary Fowler is
lying his way towards a Nobel Peace Prize. By putting Seed Savers Members’
Seed Collection into Svalbard, SSE’s Board has broken the trust of
thousands of current and former Seed Savers’ Members who donated samples
believing that their families’ heirloom seeds would always be maintained
and protected from exactly this kind of misuse.

Svalbard’s depositors can annul the agreement and recover their seeds, but
that won’t happen as long as the majority of SSE’s board members are being
funded by Amy Goldman or are profiting from their positions on SSE’s Board.
Given the steadfast defiance of Amy Goldman and the continuing inaction by
SSE’s other board members, legal action will be required to get SSE’s seeds
returned. For three years SSE’s Board has denied all of my requests, so I
have filed a lawsuit to prevent my name being taken off of the watershed
books and inventories that I spent years compiling, and to regain access to
and usage of my speeches, writings, photos, correspondence and research. In
addition, I am announcing here that I will pay all of the costs for any
lawsuit brought by any SSE Member who donated to Seed Savers Members’ Seed
Collection, only to see their family’s seeds now deposited in Svalbard. And
I will not stop until Amy Goldman, Cary Fowler and Neil Hamilton resign
from SSE’s Board and all of Seed Savers Members’ Seed Collection is
returned from Svalbard to Heritage Farm and the rightful control of Seed
Savers’ Members. This is the seed collection of the American people, built
for their use. It is a national treasure and must be protected!

Websites for Svalbard, Global Crop Diversity Trust and FAO Documents
Svalbard Depositors Agreement:

http://www.nordgen.org/sgsv/files/sgsv/SGSV_Standard_
Depositor_Agreement.pdf

ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/it/ITPGRe.pdf

FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture:

ftp://ftp.fao.org/ag/agp/planttreaty/agreements/smta/SMTAe.pdf

 FAO’s Standard Material Transfer Agreement:

http://www.croptrust.org/main/expanding. php?itemid+296

Global Crop Diversity Trust/ Programme/Expanding Use:

Svalbard’s Seed Holdings, Depositors, etc.:

http://www.nordgen.org

Countries Ratifying the FAO Treaty: http://www.fao.org/Legal/
TREATIES/033s-e.htm

On Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 11:40 AM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Access to unpatented seeds, Kent Whealy and the Seed Savers Exchange
>
> <><>
> Kent Whealy responds to SSE board's letterhttp://wlkr.org/2008/02/08/ken
> t-whealy-responds-to-sse-boards-letter/
>
> Kent Whealy responds to SSE board’s letter
> 8 Feb
> Written by: Glenn Welker, filed under Gardening
> <http://wlkr.org/category/gardening/>, Opinions
> <http://wlkr.org/category/opinions/>.
> kent whealy <http://wlkr.org/tag/kent-whealy/>, seed savers exchange
> <http://wlkr.org/tag/seed-savers-exchange/>, SSE
> <http://wlkr.org/tag/sse/>
>
> The conversation continues. Kent has once again sent another letter to all
> listed members of the Seed Savers Exchange, SSE. In this letter he once
> again tries to clarify his position and the call for a truce. At this point
> it is apparent that the disagreement between Mr. Whealy and the board are
> causing undo stress on the organization he founded. He outlines 3 points at
> the end of the letter as conditions of this truce. Hopefully for both
> sides, this separation can come to a conclusion.
>
> I feel deeply for Kent and how this all has transpired. I also feel
> concern over an organization that I have come to love. I hope that SSE can
> overcome this current obstacle and I hope that Kent is given the respect
> and benefits deserving of the man that created this wonderful organization.
>
> Kent Whealy refers to a couple of new documents in his response. These can
> be found on the Seed Savers web site.
> Letter from Diane Ott Whealy <http://www.seedsavers.org/DianeLetter.htm>
> Letter from Advisors <http://www.seedsavers.org/AdvisorsLetter.htm>
>
> Here is the letter in its entirety. It has been slightly reformatted for
> easier readability. No content has been altered.
>
> February 4, 2008
> To the Listed Members of the Seed Savers Exchange
>
> Dear Friends,
> First of all, I want to sincerely thank all of SSE’s members and friends
> for the amazing avalanche of support (hundreds of e-mails, letters and
> phone calls) that I’ve received during the last couple of weeks. After what
> I’ve just been through, all of your messages have been deeply gratifying
> and heart-warming for me, and I want to thank each and every one of you for
> your kind words of appreciation and support. Your messages have touched me
> deeply. Thanks to all of you.
>
> SSE’s Board of Directors will never be able to justify how I was treated,
> nor are they making any attempt to do so. Instead (in my opinion), there
> has been a constant stream of two-faced rhetoric and outright lies coming
> from the board’s public announcements to SSE’s members and also in letters
> that SSE’s members will never see. Just one example is the board’s recent
> letter to SSE’s private foundation donors that talks about my
> “…..desire/plan to take over the organization by somehow installing a new
> Board of Directors made up of himself and Advisors…..” (I thought I made it
> clear in my previous letter that, “I do not want to come back as SSE’s
> Executive Director.”) The board’s letter goes on to say “…..what is
> happening may be a natural occurrence in the evolution of organizations
> like SSE…..” (No, what is happening is the result of the board’s misguided
> actions and incredibly poor judgment.) Another example of an outright lie
> in a recent board letter is, “Kent was not asked to remain silent about his
> employment at SSE” while the cover letter from SSE’s lawyer that came with
> that letter is instructing me that I better not do it again.
>
> SSE’s board is also attempting to rewrite SSE’s history, as is clearly
> shown by the assertions in Diane Ott Whealy’s recent letter, “As co-founder
> of the Seed Savers Exchange, I have been involved with the day-to-day
> operations every day since 1975” and also “I will never have any regrets
> about my decision to create and nurture SSE….” My remembrances of that
> period are quite different. Diane Ott Whealy’s first real involvement was
> in 1981 (six years after I founded Seed Savers), when the first Campout
> Convention was held, and when I listed her and my mother as the other two
> original board members of the nonprofit organization I was incorporating.
> By that time I had put out six SSE yearbooks, completed the first of three
> years work compiling the original Garden Seed Inventory, received SSE’s
> first two grants, took on John Withee’s bean collection (1,186 varieties he
> collected in the Northeast over 14 years), and gave my very first speech at
> the “Seed Banks Serving People Conference” in Tucson (in which I first used
> the term “heirloom vegetable varieties”). Look, I don’t care if Diane wants
> to call herself “SSE’s co-founder” (she did put up with me funning SSE out
> of our home for that first decade), but I should rightfully be recognized
> as SSE’s founder. Diane was a stay-at-home mom (which I deeply valued), but
> this rewriting of SSE’s history and the accomplishments of my life’s work
> must stop right now.
>
> During these last two weeks, many of you have asked about Diane Ott
> Whealy’s involvement, because what has happened is difficult to understand
> without that piece of the puzzle. For Diane Ott Whealy (in my opinion)
> these last four years since the divorce have been unceasing attempts to win
> over family, friends, staff, and now the board. I have refused to play
> those games at all, but have taken a terrible beating for not playing.
> During those four years, we have both continued to work in the same office
> which has been difficult for me and SSE’s staff and board. Amy Goldman,
> Neil Hamilton and Deborah Madison have all bought into Diane Ott Whealy’s
> bogus grievances (in my opinion), which should never have been allowed to
> affect any of the decisions of SSE’s board. Instead, I was severely
> reprimanded at one board meeting (after Diane vented her grievances
> privately to board members the night before) without any of the board so
> much as asking me what was really going on. Just one other example of how
> the board has been played – shortly before I was fired Amy Goldman
> pointedly questioned me in an e-mail (to SSE’s entire board) about Diane
> Ott Whealy’s ridiculous claim that I was “logging in SSE’s orchard” (which
> Diane already knew wasn’t true). Although Diane Ott Whealy’s actions have
> contributed greatly to creating this current situation, I don’t think she
> even realizes the damage she has done to Seed Savers and its future.
>
> Related posts:
>
>    1. July 2009 Kent Whealy letter
>    <http://wlkr.org/2009/07/23/july-2009-kent-whealy-letter/>
>    2. The latest in the Kent Whealy / SeedSavers saga
>    
> <http://wlkr.org/2009/01/14/the-latest-in-the-kent-whealy-seedsavers-saga/>
>    3. Seed Savers Exchange’s Board Responds
>    <http://wlkr.org/2008/01/22/seed-savers-board-responds-2/>
>    4. Seed Savers, Executive Director, Kent Whealy fired!
>    
> <http://wlkr.org/2008/01/14/seed-savers-executive-director-kent-whealy-fired/>
>    5. Seed Savers Exchange, A Hard Decision Not To Renew My Membership
>    
> <http://wlkr.org/2010/09/27/seed-savers-exchange-a-hard-decision-not-to-renew-my-membership/>
>
>
>
> <><><><>
> Seed Savers Exchange: The (New) Real Story Including Intrigue, Deception &
> the Doomsday Vault- Excerpt of A Letter from It’s Founder
>
> http://www.beginningfarmers.org/seed-savers-exchange-the-
> new-real-story-including-intrigue-deception-the-
> doomsday-vault-excerpt-of-a-letter-from-its-founder/
>
> Posted on January 25, 2010 by in Farming Resources
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/category/farming-resources/>,
> Publications <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/category/publications/>, 
> Statistics
> and Trends
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/category/statistics-and-trends/> // 17
> Comments
>
> *<><><><> *
> *Seed Saver's Exchange, Svalgard, and the USDA *by Kent Wheatly,
> co-founder of *Seed Savers Exchange* The following is an excerpt from a
> July 2009 letter sent by the founder of Seed Saver's Exchange to SSE
> members. In its 2009 Catalog of Heirloom Seeds, Books and Gifts, SSE called
> itself "a non-profit membership organization dedicated to conserving and
> promoting heirloom vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. These include our
> members' family heirlooms' and [26,000 endangered] traditional varieties
> from around the world." This letter demonstrates that its original purpose
> has been usurped. Those with a different motive have, by slow infiltration
> and financial contributions, taken over one of humanities greatest
> collection of treasures' -- seeds. Nearly three decades ago, I incorporated
> the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) as a nonprofit corporation, the only legal
> structure in the U.S. designed to live on beyond its founder, which I knew
> would be essential for maintaining its long-term genetic preservation
> projects. For 33 years I worked to create and fund SSE and the Heritage
> Farm and Twin Valleys Ancient White Park cattle herd. All of my writings
> and photos, every book I've ever published, every business opportunity and
> land deal that ever came my way, I selflessly gave to Seed Savers. I put
> substantial and highly functional facilities into place, along with an
> increasingly solid staff, because I knew the transition from my leadership
> would be difficult. SSE's greatest treasure is its seed collection of
> 26,000 rare vegetable varieties, being permanently maintained at Heritage
> Farm, which represents the legacy and combined efforts of more than 3,500
> of SSE's Listed Members who generously contributed their families' heirloom
> seeds to SSE's collection during the last three decades. As stated in SSE's
> Articles of Incorporation, SSE's seed collection was developed as a
> permanent backup for our members' efforts (so that they could get their
> seeds back if ever lost), and over the years it has become the best
> collection of heirloom food crops in the world, truly a Peoples Seed Bank,
> like all of the collections of traditional seeds being maintained by
> villages of indigenous farmers throughout the world.
> <><><><>
> A year later, SSE deposited 936 more varieties, along with statements by
> SSE's board that additional batches of seeds will be deposited annually
> until samples of SSE's entire collection are stored in Svalbard (all 26,000
> varieties). SSE's deposits in Svalbard probably include some of those
> Native American seeds and, given the defiance of SSE's board, legal action
> will probably be required to get those seeds returned. Amy Goldman has
> purchased SSE's highly questionable relationship with Svalbard by means of
> SSE's seed collection and a $1 million grant that the Lillian Goldman
> Charitable Trust, her mother's foundation, just made to the Global Crop
> Diversity Trust, which is the entity that oversees and regulates Svalbard.
> It is headed by Cary Fowler, also on the SSE board of directors, and is
> backed by corporate donors Seminis and DuPont/Pioneer (two of the gene
> giants he used to fight so hard against). *Amy Goldman* Amy Goldman is on
> the board of the New York Botanical Garden, a group that has traditionally
> ignored the FAO Treaty, (International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
> for Food and Agriculture of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization),
> and adheres instead to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty
> because it endorses "national sovereignty" over seeds, recognizes the
> intellectual property rights of indigenous farmers and attempts to provide
> revenue sharing. The FAO Treaty claims to be "in harmony with the CBD
> treaty" but doesn't even recognize "country of origin." The U.S. hasn't
> signed the FAO Treaty yet, but has refused to ratify the CBD treaty; and
> the USDA is already making extensive deposits in Svalbard, including many
> Mexican varieties from the USDA's seed collection. Many developing
> countries who do not accept the FAO Treaty have seen samples from their
> countries placed in Svalbard without their permission (right now there are
> 79,404 Mexican varieties in Svalbard even though Mexico hasn't signed the
> FAO Treaty). Indeed, the real purpose of Svalbard, far from being just safe
> storage, is to allow national seed banks and the CGIAR [*Consultive Group
> on International Agriculture Research*] institutes who hold samples from
> other countries to place those samples in Svalbard under the FAO Treaty
> without national permission. Derivatives of samples can then be patented
> without knowledge or permission of the country of origin, which is a real
> kick in the teeth for farmers in developing countries. Since my
> termination, I have been contacted by several people who have told me that
> it is not an uncommon occurrence for the founder of a nonprofit
> organization to be thrown out, especially when it is extremely successful
> (either financially successful or has a great reputation with lots of media
> involved). Each described situations they had been through or witnessed,
> and warned that board members interested in using an organization for their
> own personal agendas will patiently wait in the background for years until
> an opportunity presents itself, and then will make their moves. Looking
> back that is exactly what Amy Goldman did, attending board meeting after
> board meeting, occasionally writing a large check from the Lillian Goldman
> Charitable Trust, while she placed people on SSE's board who were
> financially beholden to her. During the last decade she used her position
> as one of SSE's funders to demand access to SSE's assets for her own
> personal use. She has used SSE's staff inappropriately to do research for
> her books during work hours, and has demanded preferential access to SSE's
> rarest seeds which have provided many of the photos for her books. When she
> alienated me and lost my support, her future publishing depended on taking
> over SSE and forcing me out.
> <><><><>
>
>
> Seed Savers Exchange: The (New) Real Story Including Intrigue, Deception &
> the Doomsday Vault- Excerpt of A Letter from It’s Founder
>
> Posted on January 25, 2010 by in Farming Resources
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/category/farming-resources/>,
> Publications <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/category/publications/>, 
> Statistics
> and Trends
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/category/statistics-and-trends/> // 17
> Comments
>
> *Seed Saver's Exchange, Svalgard, and the USDA *by Kent Wheatly,
> co-founder of *Seed Savers Exchange* The following is an excerpt from a
> July 2009 letter sent by the founder of Seed Saver's Exchange to SSE
> members. In its 2009 Catalog of Heirloom Seeds, Books and Gifts, SSE called
> itself "a non-profit membership organization dedicated to conserving and
> promoting heirloom vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. These include our
> members' family heirlooms' and [26,000 endangered] traditional varieties
> from around the world." This letter demonstrates that its original purpose
> has been usurped. Those with a different motive have, by slow infiltration
> and financial contributions, taken over one of humanities greatest
> collection of treasures' -- seeds. Nearly three decades ago, I incorporated
> the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) as a nonprofit corporation, the only legal
> structure in the U.S. designed to live on beyond its founder, which I knew
> would be essential for maintaining its long-term genetic preservation
> projects. For 33 years I worked to create and fund SSE and the Heritage
> Farm and Twin Valleys Ancient White Park cattle herd. All of my writings
> and photos, every book I've ever published, every business opportunity and
> land deal that ever came my way, I selflessly gave to Seed Savers. I put
> substantial and highly functional facilities into place, along with an
> increasingly solid staff, because I knew the transition from my leadership
> would be difficult. SSE's greatest treasure is its seed collection of
> 26,000 rare vegetable varieties, being permanently maintained at Heritage
> Farm, which represents the legacy and combined efforts of more than 3,500
> of SSE's Listed Members who generously contributed their families' heirloom
> seeds to SSE's collection during the last three decades. As stated in SSE's
> Articles of Incorporation, SSE's seed collection was developed as a
> permanent backup for our members' efforts (so that they could get their
> seeds back if ever lost), and over the years it has become the best
> collection of heirloom food crops in the world, truly a Peoples Seed Bank,
> like all of the collections of traditional seeds being maintained by
> villages of indigenous farmers throughout the world. I remember two decades
> ago when trust in Seed Savers had grown to the point that Native Americans
> began offering their sacred seeds through SSE's Yearbooks. In 2005 Gary
> Nabhan, one of our advisors, was able to give back samples of all of the
> Hopi varieties to the Hopi in a ceremony that was the largest repatriation
> of native seeds in history. I had anticipated repatriating most of the
> Native American varieties in SSE's collection to their respective tribes,
> about 140 Indian varieties from 40 different sovereign nations. But Amy
> Goldman [the new head of the board of directors] doesn't share my reverence
> and respect for SSE's seed collection. Her unilateral actions have now made
> possible the patenting of 485 varieties that [under her leadership] SSE
> deposited at Svalbard's official opening in February 2008. [Svalbard, a
> giant arctic "Doomsday Seed Vault" located in northern Norway, was built by
> the Rockefeller and Gates Foundations and Agribusiness giants Syngenta and
> Monsanto ? the largest patent owner in the world of genetically modified
> seed. It is operated by gene bank NorGen (See I.O. 12/07 and 10/08).]
> A year later, SSE deposited 936 more varieties, along with statements by
> SSE's board that additional batches of seeds will be deposited annually
> until samples of SSE's entire collection are stored in Svalbard (all 26,000
> varieties). SSE's deposits in Svalbard probably include some of those
> Native American seeds and, given the defiance of SSE's board, legal action
> will probably be required to get those seeds returned. Amy Goldman has
> purchased SSE's highly questionable relationship with Svalbard by means of
> SSE's seed collection and a $1 million grant that the Lillian Goldman
> Charitable Trust, her mother's foundation, just made to the Global Crop
> Diversity Trust, which is the entity that oversees and regulates Svalbard.
> It is headed by Cary Fowler, also on the SSE board of directors, and is
> backed by corporate donors Seminis and DuPont/Pioneer (two of the gene
> giants he used to fight so hard against). *Amy Goldman* Amy Goldman is on
> the board of the New York Botanical Garden, a group that has traditionally
> ignored the FAO Treaty, (International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
> for Food and Agriculture of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization),
> and adheres instead to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty
> because it endorses "national sovereignty" over seeds, recognizes the
> intellectual property rights of indigenous farmers and attempts to provide
> revenue sharing. The FAO Treaty claims to be "in harmony with the CBD
> treaty" but doesn't even recognize "country of origin." The U.S. hasn't
> signed the FAO Treaty yet, but has refused to ratify the CBD treaty; and
> the USDA is already making extensive deposits in Svalbard, including many
> Mexican varieties from the USDA's seed collection. Many developing
> countries who do not accept the FAO Treaty have seen samples from their
> countries placed in Svalbard without their permission (right now there are
> 79,404 Mexican varieties in Svalbard even though Mexico hasn't signed the
> FAO Treaty). Indeed, the real purpose of Svalbard, far from being just safe
> storage, is to allow national seed banks and the CGIAR [*Consultive Group
> on International Agriculture Research*] institutes who hold samples from
> other countries to place those samples in Svalbard under the FAO Treaty
> without national permission. Derivatives of samples can then be patented
> without knowledge or permission of the country of origin, which is a real
> kick in the teeth for farmers in developing countries. Since my
> termination, I have been contacted by several people who have told me that
> it is not an uncommon occurrence for the founder of a nonprofit
> organization to be thrown out, especially when it is extremely successful
> (either financially successful or has a great reputation with lots of media
> involved). Each described situations they had been through or witnessed,
> and warned that board members interested in using an organization for their
> own personal agendas will patiently wait in the background for years until
> an opportunity presents itself, and then will make their moves. Looking
> back that is exactly what Amy Goldman did, attending board meeting after
> board meeting, occasionally writing a large check from the Lillian Goldman
> Charitable Trust, while she placed people on SSE's board who were
> financially beholden to her. During the last decade she used her position
> as one of SSE's funders to demand access to SSE's assets for her own
> personal use. She has used SSE's staff inappropriately to do research for
> her books during work hours, and has demanded preferential access to SSE's
> rarest seeds which have provided many of the photos for her books. When she
> alienated me and lost my support, her future publishing depended on taking
> over SSE and forcing me out. *Cary Fowler* Back in 1979 I worked with
> Cary Fowler, co-author of *Shattering: Food, Politics and the Loss of
> Genetic Diversity*, published in 1990 to oppose "UPOV legislation" in the
> U.S. (Geneva-based plant variety protection legislation with its Common
> Catalogue that has outlawed and caused the extinction of thousands of food
> varieties as each successive country joined the European Union). He and I
> first met at Gary Nabhan's "Seed Banks Serving People" conference in Tucson
> in 1981. I have watched Cary Fowler's career for more than 30 years, all
> the way from the Frank Porter Graham Center in North Carolina to the United
> Nations in Rome. That path has apparently required abandoning some of his
> former ideals, such as championing the rights of indigenous farmers. In
> turn, Cary Fowler has watched for 26 years as I put together the best
> collection of heirloom food crops in the world, so it is despicable that he
> never said one word to me about putting SSE's seeds into his "doomsday
> vault." Right now Cary Fowler is moving heaven and earth to place as many
> seed collections as possible under the control of the FAO Treaty. But
> despite all of his rhetoric about protecting genetic resources and needing
> to get past the contentiousness of the Seed Wars a decade ago, this is
> still just legally legitimized biopiracy. By putting SSE's seeds into
> Svalbard and under control of the FAO Treaty, Amy Goldman and SSE's board
> have broken the trust of thousands of SSE's members who have sent samples
> to SSE's collection believing that their families' heirloom seeds would
> always be maintained and protected from misuse and patenting. SSE's secret
> arrangement with Svalbard is the most serious threat that Seed Savers has
> ever faced! Svalbard?s Trojan horse publicity is designed to focus the
> public's attention strictly on the Svalbard seed vault and its claims of
> saving the world's food production from climate change and nuclear
> catastrophe, with never any mention of the FAO Treaty whose real purpose is
> to facilitate access to the world's genetic resources for breeding purposes
> and patenting. *SSE's actions a violation of law* There are serious
> questions concerning whether or not Amy Goldman and SSE's board have the
> legal right to turn over the assets of a U.S. nonprofit to the control of a
> United Nations treaty. So far SSE's board has refused to make public the
> documents signed with Cary Fowler, and they have lied to SSE's members
> through their publications and website about the true nature of Svalbard
> and the obligations the treaty places on SSE. All depositors are required
> to sign the Svalbard Depositors Agreement that links those deposits to the
> FAO Treaty, Article 7 of which states, "The Depositor agrees to make
> available from their own stocks samples of accessions of the deposited
> plant genetic resources and associated available non-confidential
> information to other natural or legal persons in accordance with the
> following terms and conditions:.... " The agreement goes on to dictate that
> "original samples" (other seeds of those varieties stored in the seed
> vaults at Heritage Farm) are also covered by the FAO Treaty. By signing the
> treaty, Seed Savers cannot refuse any requests for seeds of those deposited
> varieties (Monsanto and others now can, as a right, request those varieties
> from SSE's own seed vaults at Heritage Farm, splice in GMOs, then patent
> and sell the seed). Indeed, a 1.1% tax on patents from "derivatives" of the
> varieties in Svalbard is the main way the FAO Treaty will generate funding.
> The entire Svalrard agreement was done behind the scenes in conversations
> with Amy Goldman, probably because they both knew I would oppose such
> efforts. Svalbard has never been a necessary step for SSE - duplicate
> samples of SSE's seed collection are already stored in an underground seed
> vault at Heritage Farm as insurance against fire and tornadoes, plus
> another set of duplicate samples is in "black box storage" at the National
> Seed Storage Lab in Fort Collins, Colorado. (Black box storage means the
> seeds are only being stored against catastrophic loss and that the samples,
> which still belong entirely to SSE, can be returned at any time upon
> request.) When first confronted with my letter to SSE's members expressing
> my concerns about Svalbard, SSE issued a defensive statement (posted in
> SSE's chat room, but then pulled a day later) claiming the seeds in
> Svalbard belong entirely to SSE and cannot be distributed, patenting cannot
> occur, SSE can get its seeds back upon request, and SSE has the signed
> contracts stating all that. While it is true that the samples of seeds
> actually stored in Svalbard can't be distributed, it is the linking of
> those deposits to the FAO Treaty that facilitates the distribution and
> patenting. A more extensive letter was later posted on the SSE website
> defending SSE's relationship with Svalbard and claiming there is no linkage
> between Svalbard's Depositors Agreement and the FAO Treaty, which is an
> outright lie. That letter goes on to argue that Monsanto has had the legal
> ability to obtain and genetically modify our heirloom varieties ever since
> Heritage Farm started distributing portions of SSE's seed collection
> through the yearbook. Well, there is a huge difference between obtaining a
> few varieties from SSE's yearbooks and these deliberate actions by SSE's
> board that will gradually open up SSE's entire seed collection to Monsanto
> and similar players. If it's written into the treaty, it will eventually
> happen, exactly the same way that the rights of farmers to save their own
> seeds have gradually been made illegal by similar treaties. *Neil
> Hamilton* Amy Goldman has continually overreached her power as the Chair
> of SSE's Board, and Neil Hamilton is responsible for enabling her abuse.
> Amy Goldman did not have the right to usurp the duties of SSE's Executive
> Director (which she did repeatedly before I was fired), but with Neil
> Hamilton's legal advice and guidance they rewrote SSE's Bylaws to give her
> that power. Neil Hamilton has proven to be an opportunistic, self-serving,
> deceitful little man. A decade ago he was involved in a similar
> transformation of the National Gardening Association in Burlington,
> Vermont, during which NGA's "electronic assets" (all articles and photos
> from its past publications) were sold for $3 million and the organization's
> focus was changed from garden research to children?s gardens. Neil Hamilton
> has used tactics learned at NGA to enable Amy Goldman's takeover of Seed
> Savers. And although each of SSE's board members is supposed to annually
> sign a Conflict of Interest Statement to identify any self-serving
> financial relationships that board members have with SSE, the financial
> relationship between Amy Goldman and Neil Hamilton ($70,000 by the Lillian
> Goldman Charitable Trust given during 2007 to Drake University where Neil
> Hamilton is head of the Agricultural Law Center) has never been disclosed.
> Neil Hamilton is a social climbing politico, throwing garden parties in Des
> Moines for his buddy Tom Vilsack, then widely known in Iowa as the Hog Lot
> Governor (for blocking DNR regulation of all facilities with less than
> 4,000 hogs) and also named Governor of the Year in 2002 by "BIO"
> (Biotechnology Industry Organization) for his enthusiastic approval of open
> air tests of "pharma crops" (pharmaceuticals produced in our food supply).
> Tom Vilsack, the Obama Administration's new Secretary of Agriculture
> despite more than 100,000 letters of protest, recently came back from the
> G8 financial summit vowing to do much more than the Bush administration to
> force genetically modified foods down the world's throat. And *Neil
> Hamilton* is right in there as *Chair of the National Genetic Resources
> Program*, a USDA committee composed mainly of agricultural industry
> leaders who advise the Secretary of Agriculture. For more than a decade
> SSE's publications have reprinted articles to keep our members informed
> about the battle over genetically modified foods, because Terminator
> technology is the antithesis of SSE's efforts to make our families'
> heirloom seeds freely available to other gardeners. (*Terminator
> technology was originally developed as a taxpayer-funded USDA joint project
> for genetically engineered seeds to kill their own embryos with the stated
> goal of preventing 1.4 billion peasant farmers from saving the seeds their
> families depend on for food*). USDA and the FDA (Food and Drug
> Administration) continue to block the labeling of genetically modified
> foods in grocery stores throughout the U.S. Using the citizens of the U.S.
> as guinea pigs for Monsanto's genetically modified food crops is
> unconscionable, but deliberately breaking the chain of the seed after
> 12,000 years to genetically prevent seed saving by peasant farmers is
> really sick -- it's anti-farmer, anti-nature and anti-life. Instead of the
> usual 12-20 pages of articles about GMOs, SSE's latest issue contains only
> one article and soon there will be none. That will leave SSE's members in
> the dark about these vital issues, while also silencing a strong critic of
> agricultural biotechnology at the far end of the spectrum from Neil
> Hamilton, Tom Vilsack and the USDA's misguided policies. *The future of
> SSE* I now believe that Amy Goldman and SSE's board never intended for
> there to be any transition, because they don't intend to carry on with my
> projects. The *four board members* who voted to terminate me: *Amy
> Goldman*, *Neil Hamilton*, *Deborah Madison* and *Rob Johnston Jr.* have
> lied to SSE's advisors, members, funders and donors, maliciously attacked
> those who disagree with their actions, and created a wall of secrecy that
> would make any funder think twice. SSE's long-term funders (some have been
> supporters every year since 1982) were reportedly "horrified" by the
> board's actions. The brutal way I was terminated and the subsequent lies by
> SSE's board in defense of their actions have destroyed the trust of SSE's
> members. I am deeply concerned that the files from my former office will
> be destroyed as Amy Goldman systematically attempts to write me out of
> SSE's history. I was terminated without any warning and separated from my
> writings and photos. Since I never maintained a personal office at home,
> the entire history of the 33 years I guided Seed Savers was in file
> cabinets and on my computer in my office at Heritage Farm. Since last July
> I have been trying to regain access to and usage of my files. I have only
> been asking SSE's board for "non-exclusive usage" - not ownership, just
> permission to reprint my writings and photos that have already appeared in
> SSE's publications, and to be able to copy portions of my former files,
> costing SSE nothing. Without any reasonable justification, SSE's board has
> refused. To gain even partial access to my writings, speeches and photos
> would have required signing away my voice, which I will never do. Nothing
> will change until Amy Goldman is removed completely from SSE's board, along
> with all those financially beholden to her and all others who would use SSE
> for their own personal agendas. That most certainly includes Neil Hamilton,
> who has facilitated and empowered this entire debacle. The good news is
> that all of this is reversible ? Svalbard depositors can annul the
> agreement and recover their seeds. Someone whose seeds are in SSE's
> collection (Native American or SSE member ) needs to act and will have my
> full support - indeed, deserves all of our support - in making that legal
> challenge. What I've had to go through has been vicious and is
> indefensible. I have been completely shut out of the organization and
> genetic preservation projects that I love so deeply and have been treated
> like some sort of criminal who is a danger to our organization. All of us
> love and have worked so hard for the beautiful idea that is Seed Savers and
> it is inconceivable that the Seed Savers Exchange should now be treated so
> lightly and with such disrespect. I am deeply grateful for the help and
> support that all of you have shared so selflessly, especially your
> families' seeds. My 33 years with Seed Savers has been a truly fascinating
> journey, filled with joy and deep satisfaction. I sincerely thank all of
> you for that. More than likely this will be my final communication with all
> of you. In closing, I wan t to acknowledge the deep sorrow that so many
> people across the country are feeling right now. My greatest fear is that
> our Listed Members will start to pull back and turn away from SSE but that
> will only make things worse. Please do everything you can to make sure that
> our annual seed exchange continues and thrives, because selfless seed
> sharing has created opportunities for gardeners everywhere. If SSE?s seed
> exchange dwindles down, then three decades of work by more than 3,500
> Listed Members will indeed have been destroyed. Please don't let that
> happen. There is too much at stake to let self-serving personal agendas and
> misguided decisions ruin everything that all of us have worked so hard to
> accomplish. Please continue to support and participate and stand by Seed
> Savers. All of this can still be turned around. No lie lives forever.
>
> <><><><>
>
> A few of the comments:
>
>
>    1. Elise <http://comoxvalleygrowersandseedsavers.ca> // January 31,
>    2010 at 10:46 am
>    
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/seed-savers-exchange-the-new-real-story-including-intrigue-deception-the-doomsday-vault-excerpt-of-a-letter-from-its-founder/#comment-1278>
>    // Reply
>    
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/seed-savers-exchange-the-new-real-story-including-intrigue-deception-the-doomsday-vault-excerpt-of-a-letter-from-its-founder/?replytocom=1278#respond>
>
>    The Comox Valley Growers and Seed Savers was approached by a supposed
>    ‘farmer’s seed security’ project but we found that the organizer had ties
>    to Monsanto, we thought we were small enough to stay under the radar. At
>    least we’re small enough to make fast decisions and refuse suspicious
>    offers. The only way to keep seeds in the hands of everyone is to refuse 
> to
>    eat processed and refined foods, which are bad for you anyway. Eat good
>    food, grow it yourself, buy at the farmer’s market, share your seeds. 
> It’s
>    something we can all do.
>    2. David King <http://www.lagardenblog.com/> // May 23, 2011 at 4:31
>    pm
>    
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/seed-savers-exchange-the-new-real-story-including-intrigue-deception-the-doomsday-vault-excerpt-of-a-letter-from-its-founder/#comment-9837>
>    // Reply
>    
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/seed-savers-exchange-the-new-real-story-including-intrigue-deception-the-doomsday-vault-excerpt-of-a-letter-from-its-founder/?replytocom=9837#respond>
>
>    I wish this post could be taken down. Since 2009 none of Kent’s
>    predictions have come true, SSE is stronger and more vibrant than ever
>    before. I think Mr. Wheatly has brought upon himself a lot of sadness and
>    is having to live with some very bad choices he made. I admire him for 
> all
>    he has done for mankind. I do believe however, by now he must have moved 
> on
>    and so should the rest of the world – this post is ancient (2009) and
>    should be considered in the light of the circumstances existing between
>    Wheatly and the board of SSE at that very sad time. I have been, and
>    continue to be a proud member of SSE.
>
>    david
>    3. Kathryn Stout // June 18, 2011 at 2:06 pm
>    
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/seed-savers-exchange-the-new-real-story-including-intrigue-deception-the-doomsday-vault-excerpt-of-a-letter-from-its-founder/#comment-9974>
>    // Reply
>    
> <http://www.beginningfarmers.org/seed-savers-exchange-the-new-real-story-including-intrigue-deception-the-doomsday-vault-excerpt-of-a-letter-from-its-founder/?replytocom=9974#respond>
>
>    I hope someone will take up the legal challenge of getting SSE’s seeds
>    out of Svalbard. I do not want to see them patented or manipulated
>    genetically by the likes of Monsanto. If Svalbard provides the 
> opportunity
>    for that, then people have to stop supporting Svalbard. Rob Johnston Jr.
>    (founder of Johnny’s) recently made a statement that he thinks as
>    conventional agriculture becomes more environmentally sound, and organic
>    agriculture becomes more sophisticated, they will merge. Music to the 
> ears
>    of Monsanto. Monsanto promotes RoundUp and GE as environmentally sound.
>    They’ll cross-pollinate organic and non-GE out of existence, if they 
> aren’t
>    stopped. We cannot cooperate with Monsanto, or seed patenting, or genetic
>    engineering, in any way, shape, or form. My sorrow to Kent Wheatly. 
> Calling
>    2009 “ancient” and blaming Mr Wheatly is inexcusable.
>
> <><><><>
>
> And more links:
> The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food
> <https://books.google.com/books?id=TKLJxZPdyyQC&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&dq=Kent+Whealy+letter+to+the+public&source=bl&ots=hzs3gpd1DX&sig=gEHWe8HdQz3qt_H45EZ-i2x2-dU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivxJPqo67TAhWk6YMKHdPgDc8Q6AEIUjAH>
> https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1603583076
> Janisse Ray
> <https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Janisse+Ray%22&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivxJPqo67TAhWk6YMKHdPgDc8Q9AgIUzAH>
> - 2012 - ‎Social Science
> *Kent Whealy* went on to say that “original samples,” those stored back
> in the home country, are also covered by the order. In a 2010 *public
> letter* of rebuttal, the ...
> Kent Whealy - Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Whealy>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Whealy
> *Kent Whealy* (born 1946) is an American activist, journalist and
> philanthropist who co-founded Seed Savers Exchange and has promoted organic
> agriculture ...
> [PDF]Svalbard Doomsday Vault: Biopiracy by UN Treaty - Center for Food ...
> <http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/land-inst-svalbard-portion_40085.pdf>
> www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/land-inst-svalbard-portion_40085.pdf
> Sep 26, 2010 - Speech by *Kent Whealy* ... Members and the gardening
> *public*. ... SSE's Board has refused to make *public* the documents
> signed with ... A more extensive *letter*, posted later and still on
> SSE's website, claims there is no linkage.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Lawrence F. London, Jr.
> lfljvenaura@gmail.com
> https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared