Europe has one of the most diverse seed industries in the world. In Germany, the Netherlands and France alone, hundreds of small breeders are creating new varieties of cereals, vegetables and legumes.
Relying on decades of careful selection to improve desired traits like yield, disease resistance and flavour, they adapt seeds to local environments through methods like cross-breeding.
This legion of plant breeders help maintain Europe’s biodiversity and ensure that our food supplies stay plentiful. But their work is under growing threat from the patent industry.
Although it’s illegal to patent plants in the EU, those created through technological means are classified as a technical innovation and so can be patented.
This means that small-scale breeders can no longer freely plant these seeds or use them for research purposes without paying licensing fees.
Same just happened in Canada as well. Our feds quietly enacted legislation that allows corpos to own it all. We homestead less than an acre and grow most of our own food. Our seed order price tripped this past year and we don’t use anything that is patented, modern GMO’s or even F1’s. They’ll be coming for seed cleaners and savers next.