EU Seed Law: Putting the Final Commission Draft in Perspective

One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer

Some very important changes appeared in the legislation draft in the last minute.  I posted about this here.  This is only because of pressure people all around the world put on the EU Commission.  Signatures on petitions, emails to commissioners and the like.  This was no gift, it came because we demanded it and worked hard for it.  We must keep up the pressure.  There are other problems with the legislation, and there is the possibility it will be amended later in the legislative process.

PLEASE KEEP SIGNING THE PETITIONS

Fundamentally it’s bad legislation.  It starts by declaring all seeds used in agriculture illegal, as well as most materials used in forestry management in Europe.  It does not criminalize seeds, it makes them illegal.  It then goes on to detail procedures for testing, certifying and registering this material, setting very strict rules on the people and companies that sell this material, then makes a few small but important exemptions.  This is the wrong way to approach these things.  Seeds should not be illegal — this does not make sense.  Even if the only practical risk for using the wrong seeds is an administrative fine, this can be a disaster for a small farmer or seed company.

Not much attention has been paid to the forestry side of things, but what’s going to happen when all the trees in Europe’s forests are distinct, uniform and stable?  How’s that going to be for biodiversity in general?  It’s an important issue, but those of us working on the food side of things don’t have time to get into this right now.

Beyond regulating the seeds themselves, everyone in the entire supply chain is to be regulated, and there remains the possibility that individual EU member states could add additional regulations.

It’s completely the wrong way to address this issue.

Horse Meat or Horse Hockey?

The EU commission (DG SANCO) is comparing this to the recent horse meat fiasco in Europe.  According to them, this is going to bring safety and purity to the food chain in Europe.  The only sort of purity it’s going to bring to our food is the kind of genetic purity the Third Reich tried to bring to Europe during the war.  Our food is not safer if it’s ‘genetically pure’, rather its less healthy, more bland and significantly more more damaging to the environment.  It’s dependent on strong chemicals and fossil fuels, in part to make up for it’s genetic weaknesses.

This sort of agriculture is destroying agricultural biodiversity in Europe and around the world.  Traditionally bred agriculture has virtually no consumer safety issues related to it’s genetics.

Black Holes

This legislation is completely filled with so-called delegated acts.  These are incomplete sections — to be determined at a later date.  These will be determined by industry dominated committees, immune to democratic process.  These delegated acts have been a huge problem for small seed companies and farmers in the past.  There are literally dozens of these acts, that at a later date could turn the whole piece of legislation upside down.

These must be dealt with now, by democratic process.

Protecting Europe’s Seed Industry and Exports

The argument is being made that somehow if genetically unpure seed were commercially produced in Europe it could tarnish the reputation of the seed industry, and harm exports.

If you buy seeds from a known source and get bad seeds, you don’t go back to that source.  The problem is nearly all of Europe’s seeds are produced by a very small number of very large companies, and the market needs to be opened to smaller operators.  It’s very bad for food security to be so dependant on our seeds in this way.  The truth is the seed industry is more afraid of competition than the loss of Europe’s reputation.

We need to protect and stimulate Europe’s small farmers and seed producers.  This is critical for the integrity of our agriculture, as well as the environment and rural development.

Protecting Europe’s Small Farmers and Seed Companies

There are very few provisions in this legislation that are good for small companies, but the limiting of the size of companies that can benefit from the so-called niche provision to €2.000.000 turnover or assets and 10 employees is a very good one.  Companies that miss this limit by a little bit can reorganize and adapt in order to meet the requirements, but it will remain an obstacle for the largest companies.

The Seeds for Home Gardeners Will be Criminalized!

Stop!  These were the words of one person, who misrepresented the situation.  In the earlier drafts of the legislation this was not totally clear, but these were rough drafts and intended for discussion.  The issue however was legality and not criminality, and it was a simple oversight slated to be clarified.  In the latest draft home gardeners are explicitly excluded.  This has never been a serious risk to home gardeners, only maybe to the companies that sell them seeds.