Today's seed industry is dominated by a handful of
companies. About 60% of the market is controlled by just four companies.
Many seeds planted by farmers are controlled by
international property rights or patents, which limit how they can be used.
Court cases center on whether farmers have the right to save and reuse seeds
for future crops.
In this program, we’ll chart the history of the seed industry, from the 19th century, when the United States government sent seeds in the post to farmers for free, to the growth of genetics in the 20th century which set the foundations for today’s market.
Ruth Alexander is joined by Courtney Fullilove, Associate
Professor of History at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, United States, and
author of ‘Profit of the Earth: the global seeds of American Agriculture';
Frank Terhorst, Head of Strategy and Sustainability in the Crop Sciences
Division of Bayer Global, the biggest seed company in the world; Michael
Fakhri, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the right to food, and
Professor at the Oregon University School of Law in the United States; and Dr. Tamene Yohannes, from the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute in Ethiopia, which
works with community seed banks around the country. See details.
|Source: Online/SZK
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