To mark the harvest festival (5 October), an alliance of church-based development organisations and farmers' interest groups presented a harvest crown to Bärbel Kofler today. The Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development received the crown with a request to campaign for the protection of seed diversity. The alliance is also calling for no patents on seeds to be authorised.
The harvest crown symbolises gratitude towards nature, appreciation of farmers' work and a good harvest. This is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve for farms in Germany and around the world. Climate change is causing extreme weather conditions, and large agricultural companies are gaining more and more control over the seed market through patents. Diverse, locally adapted seeds are becoming less and less available and access is becoming increasingly restricted. In addition, the EU Commission is planning to significantly weaken EU genetic engineering legislation so that GMO-free seed and food production will no longer be possible.
"If new genetic engineering is hardly tested and labelled in the EU, if plants can be patented and a few corporations control the seeds, farmers in Europe and around the world will lose control over what they grow," says Kathrin Schroeder, Head of Policy and Global Issues at Misereor, describing the situation. "They are then no longer free to decide whether a variety suits the soil or climate. Less choice in the field means less safety on the plate: if everyone grows the same thing, one disease can destroy entire harvests - and that ultimately affects us all."
Important decisions are pending in the EU and in the Bundestag during this legislative period. The reform of the EU Seed Regulation and a draft regulation on new genetically engineered plants are being negotiated at full speed. These processes will determine whether farmers' rights are strengthened or further restricted. The alliance is calling for the 2018 UN Declaration on Farmers' Rights (UNDROP) to be made the basis for legislation and for farmers' rights to be protected!
"We call on the German government to advocate for clear rules in Brussels: Seed must remain freely accessible and exchangeable for farmers, this is the only way to preserve diversity," explains Claudia Gerster, Federal Chairwoman of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL) e.V. and farmer from Saxony-Anhalt. "GMO-free conventional and organic agriculture needs protection through binding, effective coexistence and liability regulations. The valuable EU precautionary principle and our freedom of choice as farmers and consumers must be guaranteed."
It is important to think regionally and globally together, for food sovereignty and diversity worldwide. Martin Krieg, Director of Communications and Engagement at Bread for the World, said: "Seeds belong to everyone - they are not the property of a few. When large corporations are granted patents on plants, others are often no longer allowed to use or further develop the seeds. It's like someone patenting the recipe for bread and forbidding others to bake it."
In a joint paper presented by the alliance partners to State Secretary Bärbel Kofler, the Working Group on Rural Agriculture, Bread for the World, Misereor, the German Farming Association, the Catholic Rural People's Movement Germany and the Working Group of Environmental Officers in the member churches of the EKD have summarised seven key recommendations. These show why seed policy today determines food security.
Another harvest crown and the demands paper were presented to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Home Affairs (BMLEH) today.
