Cliven Bundy

[sawfly]

another thing
i do not know for sure.
if the law applies the same

but what if the free trade agreement
would prevent us from ever getting back into public breeding.

same reason we could not nationalize the railway or any industry, without being sued for commercial damage compensation .

if we were to do public breeding again .

the gov. can be sued for the seed co.s lost revenue and potential revenue .

if you look at canola
what kind of potential revenue is at stake here.

billions

that might explain why Harper is so quick to kill Gov. breeding.

i get so sick of Mulroney and Harper selling out our sovereignty.
to corporate friends

[bucket]

That's the part the conservatives will say "...but we didn't know..."

Because they don't understand the term "due diligence".

[bucket]

Canada would be better served with people that stood up for our interests rather than always using terms like " well this is what it takes to belong"

This country needs to grow up, and start influencing the rest of the world with what made Canada a successfull country.

It wasn't by following the herd.

We are a young country and if you compare it to junior coming home to farm, sometimes its better to let junior try out the ideas. It has made alot of good farms better.

I don't like other countries dictating what happens here for their own benefit.

NAFTA helped but no one knows how much it has tied our hands either.

If the rest of the free trade agreements come on line we are still not prepared to meet the demands anyway.

Canada has to start looking inside itself and work on its internal problems.

[wd9]

Sawfly, what do you want to see? If not
royalties, how do you generate the
millions required to breed new varieties
and traits? should the gov pay for it
all? What is the farmers responsibility
to pay and how much?

An Act is just an Act, but a sound
business model with advancement in
cereals development, isn't that the real
endgame?

Please, i'm not a seed grower, work for
monsanto, in government, don't profit
from seed in any way so please don't go
there. Just a farmer who wants access to
and wants to see new and better cereal
varieties.

[grower99]

At what cost is accessing these new
"super" varieties ok with you? If the
cost and contract conditions are too one
sided what other options will you have in
5,10,15 years?

[wd9]

It greatly concerns me that the trend is to cower in the corner from
fear of seed companies and royalties yet not a post on farmers'
perfect timing opportunity right now to own and control a big chunk
of cereal breeding in Canada.

It shows to me farmer owned breeding won't work in Canada rather
then using the advantages within UPOV91 to create a strong farmer
owned breeding program for cereals - with no EPR!

And yes, it works in other counties, but in Canada, probably not.

[bucket]

It works in other countries where they have trouble meeting their own needs.

When you are exporting country like Canada and your importing costomers can set the rules as to what enters their country, it may be a little more difficult.

Any excuse will do.

We have witnessed it already.

[grower99]

What steps are needed to establish a
farmer owned and controlled breeding
program in a political environment which
is being tipped in favour of a few
corporations?

[charliep]

I found this article in Alberta Farm Express interesting.

[URL="http://www.albertafarmexpress.ca/2014/04/09/big-changes-coming-to-plant-breeding/"]Alberta Farm Express[/URL]

For what it is worth, the debate goes well beyond UPOV91 (an international standard) to how plant breeding will be financed in western Canada and who will do this activity. These questions have already been dealt with in the cases of canola and pulses.

[wd9]

funny, i was gonna post that!

bucket, re "it works in other countries"

What does that have to do with seed,
unless i am misunderstanding you, that
is about exports??

What protects the private sector seed
rights also applies to farmer owned.
Where is the corporate advantage? Or the
farmers seed ownership disadvantage?