Saving traditional seed isn't going to do you any good when the new variety of disease sets in. That's where the new rules come unto play.
The new variety will have disease resistance and the old variety will be ruined. Mother nature evolves. It has always been like this. The first varieties of wheat grown in Canada were susceptible to rust and were no longer economical. Breeding developed rust resistant varieties and the while industry moved to the new varieties and farmers were successful. It will always be so and that is THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON FOR PLANT BREEDING!! Sure yield increases are nice too. But without disease resistance we have nothing.
Where did these disease resistant varieties cine from? Public plant breeding programs. The government paid fir this and the entire country prospered and benefited from the farmers ability to grow healthy crops for export. And you must recognize that we export 80% of what we grow which creates foreign exchange dollars so the average non-farming citizen can buy his iPad and his denim jeans and bananas and every other thing we import. I'm not saying there are not other industries that produce foreign exchange, but agriculture is a big one.
So getting back to disease resistance. You go right ahead and grow your traditional varieties and keep your own seed as long as that is working for you. And it may work for a long time. But ut won't work forever. I hope history has taught us that. You can bet your bittom dollar the seed companies are betting in it. And they have pushed their agenda to create a new "value capture model" as I heard a government official (lackie) refer to it.
The government position is that to keeo pace in a modern competitive world we need big dollars invested. The government believes that the only people with those kind of dollars and expertise are the big corporations. From there they conclude that these corporations need two things to enter the game. They will not compete with the government, so the government must get out of the business. And as you see they have taken large steps to eliminate government involvement in plant breeding and research. The secind thing that is required is the "value capture model" and so we have Bill C-18.
They (the government) has been leading a dog and pony show to convince everybody how much we need the protection of UPOV-91 and how we needn't worry about being completely powerless. And dont worry because "end point royalties" are not spelled out in the legislation. Please believe us (the givernment) that end point royalties could only come into effect by regulation after consultation and due process.
Have you heard that before?
So this "value capture model". Who creates this value? Where dies the money come from? Where does all the money come from that these "seed companies" bring to the table? Well it will come from your seed sales and purchases. And what else will your seed sales and purchases pay for besides the development of newer and better varieties? Well just loik at the canola business.
Collectively we plant 20 million acres if canola. We are spending at least $10.00 per pound on about 5 pounds per acre. So in this "value capture model" we are contributing ONE BILLION DOLLARS per year to this seed improvement model. Are we getting our moneys worth? Definitely not. Only 8% goes to plant breeding. The rest goes to shareholders dividends, CEO bonuses and the like. And the yield improvements have not been as good as what we have seen from our publicly funded wheat breeding program.
So who creates value? Farmers create value. Every other segment of the industry dips their hands into your pocket to "share the wealth". You and I pay for every new plant variety with our hard earned cash. We pay for every lab, every plant breeder, every field plot, every CEO salary, every board member and his fancy supper meeting, every dividend check to shareholders, every fancy ad campaign, every farm show display and the hats and pens they give away. We pay fir it all. Every nickle and dime. Why? Because we gave them the power.
So how do we take it back?
Lets start with the Wheat Development Commissions. How much are we farmers contributing towards the development of new varieties today. Well in the case of the Saskatchewan Commission about 5 million dollars per year. Its not enough. Its not nearly enough. People complain about spending 50 cents a tonne or a dollar when you include WGRF. That's a buck an acre. That certainly isn't the value capture model that interests the corporate seed companies. They want MUCH MUCH more from us. They think we can afford $50 an acre. And where did they get that idea. Well from canola, that's where.
Sooner or later we are going to end up paying a lot more for wheat breeding and there are two ways that can play out. Either you start paying to set up a farmer owned and controlled plant breeding company where the dividends come back to you the farmer/owner, or you do nothing and end up losing complete control to the corporations and end up paying way more for a system designed to rob you.
Your call.
Start attending the meetings. Ask for the checkoff to be increased. Ask for the formation of a farmer owned plant breeding company. Ask that your check off funds be shown as your share value.
Lets get this thing rocking and rolling before its too late and we can no longer get our hands in the germ plasm. Before the seed companies claim that everything they own is "essentially derived" and nothing we produce can be called our own.
If you cant wait to attend a meeting, send an email to SWDC. Send a cc to the government ministers. Tell the government that you are pissed off and that you won't take it any more!
The new variety will have disease resistance and the old variety will be ruined. Mother nature evolves. It has always been like this. The first varieties of wheat grown in Canada were susceptible to rust and were no longer economical. Breeding developed rust resistant varieties and the while industry moved to the new varieties and farmers were successful. It will always be so and that is THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON FOR PLANT BREEDING!! Sure yield increases are nice too. But without disease resistance we have nothing.
Where did these disease resistant varieties cine from? Public plant breeding programs. The government paid fir this and the entire country prospered and benefited from the farmers ability to grow healthy crops for export. And you must recognize that we export 80% of what we grow which creates foreign exchange dollars so the average non-farming citizen can buy his iPad and his denim jeans and bananas and every other thing we import. I'm not saying there are not other industries that produce foreign exchange, but agriculture is a big one.
So getting back to disease resistance. You go right ahead and grow your traditional varieties and keep your own seed as long as that is working for you. And it may work for a long time. But ut won't work forever. I hope history has taught us that. You can bet your bittom dollar the seed companies are betting in it. And they have pushed their agenda to create a new "value capture model" as I heard a government official (lackie) refer to it.
The government position is that to keeo pace in a modern competitive world we need big dollars invested. The government believes that the only people with those kind of dollars and expertise are the big corporations. From there they conclude that these corporations need two things to enter the game. They will not compete with the government, so the government must get out of the business. And as you see they have taken large steps to eliminate government involvement in plant breeding and research. The secind thing that is required is the "value capture model" and so we have Bill C-18.
They (the government) has been leading a dog and pony show to convince everybody how much we need the protection of UPOV-91 and how we needn't worry about being completely powerless. And dont worry because "end point royalties" are not spelled out in the legislation. Please believe us (the givernment) that end point royalties could only come into effect by regulation after consultation and due process.
Have you heard that before?
So this "value capture model". Who creates this value? Where dies the money come from? Where does all the money come from that these "seed companies" bring to the table? Well it will come from your seed sales and purchases. And what else will your seed sales and purchases pay for besides the development of newer and better varieties? Well just loik at the canola business.
Collectively we plant 20 million acres if canola. We are spending at least $10.00 per pound on about 5 pounds per acre. So in this "value capture model" we are contributing ONE BILLION DOLLARS per year to this seed improvement model. Are we getting our moneys worth? Definitely not. Only 8% goes to plant breeding. The rest goes to shareholders dividends, CEO bonuses and the like. And the yield improvements have not been as good as what we have seen from our publicly funded wheat breeding program.
So who creates value? Farmers create value. Every other segment of the industry dips their hands into your pocket to "share the wealth". You and I pay for every new plant variety with our hard earned cash. We pay for every lab, every plant breeder, every field plot, every CEO salary, every board member and his fancy supper meeting, every dividend check to shareholders, every fancy ad campaign, every farm show display and the hats and pens they give away. We pay fir it all. Every nickle and dime. Why? Because we gave them the power.
So how do we take it back?
Lets start with the Wheat Development Commissions. How much are we farmers contributing towards the development of new varieties today. Well in the case of the Saskatchewan Commission about 5 million dollars per year. Its not enough. Its not nearly enough. People complain about spending 50 cents a tonne or a dollar when you include WGRF. That's a buck an acre. That certainly isn't the value capture model that interests the corporate seed companies. They want MUCH MUCH more from us. They think we can afford $50 an acre. And where did they get that idea. Well from canola, that's where.
Sooner or later we are going to end up paying a lot more for wheat breeding and there are two ways that can play out. Either you start paying to set up a farmer owned and controlled plant breeding company where the dividends come back to you the farmer/owner, or you do nothing and end up losing complete control to the corporations and end up paying way more for a system designed to rob you.
Your call.
Start attending the meetings. Ask for the checkoff to be increased. Ask for the formation of a farmer owned plant breeding company. Ask that your check off funds be shown as your share value.
Lets get this thing rocking and rolling before its too late and we can no longer get our hands in the germ plasm. Before the seed companies claim that everything they own is "essentially derived" and nothing we produce can be called our own.
If you cant wait to attend a meeting, send an email to SWDC. Send a cc to the government ministers. Tell the government that you are pissed off and that you won't take it any more!
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