This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

R - Saving Seed Becomes Illegal

Fred,
I  guess I didnt make myself clear..Having been surrounded by agriculture
the better part of my life I'm fully aware that farmers use hybrid seed (as
do many gardeners.)I also know that the majority dont/wouldnt save their
seed as it would be pointless to do so..Make no mistake I have great respect
for developers of seed strains( hybrid or otherwise),it has its place and is
needed in feeding vast populations.

However I'm not sure the article made clear that this is far beyond the
'patented hybrid seeds'as we have know in the past...

This technology is cutting edge and is dubbed in most ,scientific (and
other) circles as the "Terminator Technology"..It literally renders any
future seed as incapable of reproducing itself( a special protein kills the
embyro).This of course assures the Corp.Seed producers of  return business
and the 'stealing'of their investmest of time and money to develope this
tech.
I have no quarrel with profits.It just seems this is overkill no pun
intended.If you have an F1 that is not worth saving the seed of (as it will
not grow true a second generation)then why take it to this extreme?.
I prefer to educate myself thereby drawing my own conclusion and what action
seems appropriate.To assume that this wont affect the home garden is proably
currently correct but in the future who can say.?

An educator forwarded me this link and it has extensive info for those who
are interested.
http://www.raf.ca/

Fred Thompson wrote:

> Dear Connie:
>
> Farmers use hybrid seed. They sell the entire crop. They do not "save"
> the seed to plant next year's crop because they would lose much hybrid
> vigor and uniformity. Next year, they will want to buy new seed grain
> especially grown for production purposes.
>
> If you want to grow varieties that are not patented, you are free to do
> so. You can open pollinate and have a diverse gene pool for your annual
> crops. You probably wouldn't want to use hybrid grains for that purpose.
> That kind of seed saving will not become illegal.
>
> Fred in Walnut Creek
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index