Raise our forks for diversity!

Author: | Date: April 04, 2024

We are at crossroads for the future of our food: the EU is currently negotiating new rules for the seed market. The current rules, introduced in the 1960s, promote seeds that were developed for industrial agriculture. Seeds that can be sold together with harmful pesticides and synthetic fertilisers, and grown in monocultures. The agro-industry is pushing for the rules to go even further, outlawing diversity to make both the seed and our food system even more uniform. What we need is exactly the opposite. We need seed laws that secure our right to healthy, diverse and tasty food, by truly enhancing diversity in farmers’ fields and in gardens, supporting local varieties, and respecting farmer’s rights.

The new EU seed law proposed by the European Commission in July 2023 threatens the conservation and circulation of crop diversity. It disregards farmers’ right to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds, as enshrined in international law. It is unacceptable.

We call on the European Parliament and Agriculture Ministers to rehaul the EU seed law proposal, and adopt legislation that enables the circulation of diverse seeds, enhances biodiversity, respects farmers’ rights and lays the foundation for a sustainable, resilient and diverse food system:

• The conservation and sustainable use of locally adapted crop diversity is the over-riding priority.
• The human right of farmers and gardeners to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds must be implemented fully.
• The marketing of diverse and locally adapted varieties by regional seed producers must be facilitated.
• Newly approved varieties must not be dependent on pesticides or synthetic fertilisers.

Sign our petition to call on EU decision makers to not succumb to the industry's pressure, but to protect and promote crop diversity as well as farmers’ right to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seed!