The patenting process has led, in many cases, to massive private
enrichment (both corporate and academic) at the expense of the public
pocketbook and it is part of a system that has resulted in an impoverishment
of agricultural diversity rather than the reverse. Seems to me that the
problem of funding such worthwhile horticultural endeavors is to provide
adequate funds for institutions doing the work. If political forces whose
ideological bent to privatize the entire public realm refuse to pony up the
dough, then the answer is to vote 'em out of office, rather than to depend
on the 'incentive' of patent protection.
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.