Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by a3n on Friday November 22, 2013 @09:58AM
(#6781030)
Food has always been "free" in the sense that anyone could produce or harvest it, as long as they had the resources.
This is part of a two part process to steal the freedom of food from humanity: 1) produce these technically unique and patented seeds, 2) wait for those seeds to crowd out unencumbered seeds. Once there are essentially only patented seeds, Monsanto et al. become our new overlords.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by sparkie on Friday November 22, 2013 @12:24PM
(#6782169)
Here's another process, tinhat mode fully on: 1) Kill of significant number of bees on which we depend to pollinate crops via pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs or combination of. 2) Buy leading bee research company investigating bee deaths to hide evidence of wrongdoing. 3) Use research company to develop GMO bees which are resistant to other Monsanto products, and further, modify them to only pollinate Monsanto products. 4) Kill off the remaining natural bee population.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by csmuk on Friday November 22, 2013 @10:47AM
(#6781413)
And as usual, there are other solutions:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ for example which involves cultivating and selling heritage non-hybrid seeds. Stuff tastes good as well - I grow quite a bit.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by rayiner on Friday November 22, 2013 @10:18AM
(#6781150)
Is that part of the problem though? Is anyone actually trying to enforce patents against people whose plants get cross-pollinated with engineered crops?
EDIT: I realize Monsanto has sued farmers who took advantage of the cross-pollination to apply Roundup (which otherwise kills the plants) to their crops. But as far as I know, they're not suing farmers merely because of the cross-pollination by itself.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by cm2012 on Friday November 22, 2013 @11:07AM
(#6781567)
The only lawsuits Monsanto has ever filed have been against farmers who both got cross pollinated with their seeds, and then knowingly took advantage of this by using Roundup chemicals. Monsanto has never filed a lawsuit against a farmer who didn't use Roundup on their crops.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by btilly on Friday November 22, 2013 @12:52PM
(#6782397)
Is that part of the problem though?
Yes, it is. If I'm a farmer who grows organic crops, and I get cross-pollinated from my neighbor who uses GMO seeds, I no longer qualify as organic, and no longer can sell my crops for the premium that qualifies me for.
We can debate the merits of GMO as an idea elsewhere (my belief is that without it we're guaranteeing major food supply problems down the road), but making sure that my crops are organic is not just a question of choosing to not buy from Monsanto.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by mildtrepidation on Friday November 22, 2013 @10:23AM
(#6781182)
Sorry if I'm off base or misunderstanding you, but isn't this exactly what Monsanto has done to get their claws into a lot of US farmers that don't otherwise use their products?
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by servowire on Friday November 22, 2013 @09:25AM
(#6780831)
I hope this only applies to the Gentec seed; in a way this is understandable, but unsustainable.
Seeds (nature) are made/evolved to prosper and re-grow, making claims to some-one for doing this with a modified version of this product of nature is kind of un-ethical.
The seed is a derivative of nature, and imho cannot be patented.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by throwawaykf on Friday November 22, 2013 @09:56AM
(#6781020)
Interesting you should mention that tendency to "broadcast", because Monsanto engineered their seeds to not do that (see: the "terminator gene") but did not put it into production because of the huge backlash it caused.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by Dylan16807 on Friday November 22, 2013 @10:33AM
(#6781288)
The terminator gene made them still broadcast, but the end result was sterile seeds. Which is definitely a risky option to take, and deserves backlash.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by qwerta on Friday November 22, 2013 @12:18PM
(#6782124)
It is even worse, EU agricultural commission is pushing replanting ban for entire EU, for any seed regardless of copyright.
In Europe each county or even village has its own breed of apples, plums and other fruit. Various mutation added some unique traits. For example resistance to cold or parasites, sweetness, time of harvest...
This would be golden mine for any geneticist. But 99% of breeds disappeared over last 70 years.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by rflrob on Friday November 22, 2013 @12:04PM
(#6782016)
I think it's worth noting that Europe in General, and France in particular, is very anti-GMO, so this will mostly apply to conventionally bred (but still patentable) plants. If IP is your problem, I'll admit that GMOs aren't innocent, but banning them won't fix the problem.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by hipsters_unite on Friday November 22, 2013 @09:36AM
(#6780909)
There's an amazing section in the documentary Food, Inc. that deals with the consequences of this in the US. Genuinely disturbing, hopefully this is overturned or at least protested against before it can be enforced.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by static_typed on Friday November 22, 2013 @09:16AM
(#6780773)
The French farmers would not stand for this, they will probably be out burning truck loads of seeds, having first forced the truck to stop via roadblock.
Re:In France, reseeding will soon be illegal due to firms’ p...
by rmc on Friday November 22, 2013 @09:27AM
(#6780850)
OH yes. France has a very strong labour union movement. The joke is the French will protest when it's cold in winter, and set Paris on fire to warm things up.
This is part of a two part process to steal the freedom of food from humanity: 1) produce these technically unique and patented seeds, 2) wait for those seeds to crowd out unencumbered seeds. Once there are essentially only patented seeds, Monsanto et al. become our new overlords.
This will probably happen with GM animals too.
The ultimate in rent seeking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_seeking
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ for example which involves cultivating and selling heritage non-hybrid seeds. Stuff tastes good as well - I grow quite a bit.
So what is the logical consequence?
Bann all other seeds! This is not a joke http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/06/05/european-comm...
Buy organic and support the farmers who don't need weedkiller resistant crops.
EDIT: I realize Monsanto has sued farmers who took advantage of the cross-pollination to apply Roundup (which otherwise kills the plants) to their crops. But as far as I know, they're not suing farmers merely because of the cross-pollination by itself.
Yes, it is. If I'm a farmer who grows organic crops, and I get cross-pollinated from my neighbor who uses GMO seeds, I no longer qualify as organic, and no longer can sell my crops for the premium that qualifies me for.
We can debate the merits of GMO as an idea elsewhere (my belief is that without it we're guaranteeing major food supply problems down the road), but making sure that my crops are organic is not just a question of choosing to not buy from Monsanto.
Seeds (nature) are made/evolved to prosper and re-grow, making claims to some-one for doing this with a modified version of this product of nature is kind of un-ethical.
The seed is a derivative of nature, and imho cannot be patented.
Not in France, anyway. The farmers will eventually hit the streets and block all road traffic in "Opérations Escargot" until the thing gets repelled.
In Europe each county or even village has its own breed of apples, plums and other fruit. Various mutation added some unique traits. For example resistance to cold or parasites, sweetness, time of harvest...
This would be golden mine for any geneticist. But 99% of breeds disappeared over last 70 years.
Then again, Obama seems to think he has the authority to override the law with EOs, but they would likely be struck down by a court if challenged.