monopolisation of $ € € D In 1985 global seed trade totalled 18 bn $The four highest ranking companies

covered 8 % of the market In 2006 global seed sales totalled 34 bn $The top four companies held 30 % of the

market. Monsanto is global leader. In 2008 two thirds of commercial seed in

the world is sold by just ten companies.

Industrial seeds Farm seeds Uniform: not adapted to

local conditions High yields possible High imput: technology,

fertilizer, pesticides: energy consuming crop

selected for transportability, storage life

Narrow resistance Private variety (PBR or

patented) Difficult to reproduce ,

biotech (GURTS) or legal restrictions (IPRs)

Diverse: landraces adapted to local conditions

stable yields low imput: efficient,

energy producing crop

Selected for nutritious value, taste.

Broad resilience Common variety

Fertile, reproducable

Welcome to the EU

Only seeds listed in the Common Catalogue can be used commercially

Farm seeds/varieties are dynamic and evolve with the circumstances in the field. They do not meet the required industrial standards of Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) .

Intellectual Property:monopoly on reproductionRestricting free seeds and diversityIPRWTOTRIPS UPOVEPOPBREuropean Common Catalogue

Patents + food = trouble

- Market monopolies : price rises: corn, cotton

- Block innovation: breeders can’t develop a patented plant further, researchers need permission

- Re-sowing illegal: farmer has to buy new seed

-Stricter controls, higher penalties- Each patented plant draws from common

genetic heritage- Patent thickets: judicial jungle – wide range- Holder can block patented varieties

July 2010:international protest against the broccoli patent at the European Patent Office in Munchen

Farmers and activists demand:

Exclude from patentability processes for breeding, genetic material, plants and animals and food derived thereof.

No patents on life!

Seed protest 2011

26 October 2011 Munchen EPO

Public hearing at the EPO November 8th

European wide: Nyeleni forum SOS Save our Seeds European GM-free regions Liberate Diversity: Seed sovereignty

network Countless seed saving farmers and

amateurs Transition Towns , community gardens Via Campesina - Reclaim the Fields

etc etc