Dear SANET,
Dale Wilson wrote:
>> (Greg): How about the food security issue? Is it safe to allow a handful
>> of multi-national corporations own the genetics that feed the world?
>
>At Pioneer, we like to think that we have the best corn varieties, and we
>probably do. But the differences are measured in a few bu/A. 99% of the
>genetics that feeds the world are in the public domain. That is not likely
>to change. We may have assembled them into "cadillac" varieties, but the
>building blocks are there for everyone to use.
>
Ah, the sweet music, sleep, sleep everything is OK.
But it is not. That "99%" is already much less available than it was. As
seed companies are scooped up by agribusiness (itself in ever fewer hands:
who owns Pioneer these days?) what part of that range of "building blocks"
in the public domain is really and truly "there for everyone (especially
farmers) to use"? I understand I can't even buy non-transgenic varieties
of Pioneers own "best varieties". I could only plant my grandfather's corn
if I had saved the seed. But then I couldn't have got the USDA subsidies
necessary for a "modern" grain farmer to survive (In fact, we didn't
survive, not as farmers).
Traditional, open-pollinated and heritage varieties of seed are in great
danger because the small farmers that perserve them are under the severest
threat in human history. They are literally starving and their children are
leaving for the city. They are considered expendible by their govnerments
and by the corporations who are setting the new rules of the game in the
WTO etc. A small number of corporations are indeed, very near to
controlling the vital inputs to the world's food system ans well as the
channels of commercialization. This concentration of power and control in
the food system is a fact, it is documented, it is right before our noses
everyday. Dale, I guess, thinks it's safe. I don't.
regards to all
Ronald Nigh
Dana, A.C.
Mexico, D.F. & San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas
Tel. y FAX 525-666-73-66 (DF)
529-678-72-15 (Chiapas)
danamex@mail.internet.com.mx
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Mar 12 2000 - 14:00:29 EST