• Home
  • News
  • Stories
    • Learning & Literacy
    • Food, Farming & Fishing >
      • Recipe Collection
    • Culture & Heritage
    • Wellness
    • Environment
    • Opinions, letters and reflections
  • About Us
  • Jobs
  • E-magazine
  • Calendar
  • Albert County
    • Living in Albert County
    • Our Villages
    • Attractions
    • Community Groups
  • Advertising
  • Donate
  • Exploring Our Trails
  • Blog
Connecting Albert County

opinions, Letters, ​​and
​reflections
​

Letter to the Editor: Save our seed campaign

15/4/2019

0 Comments

 
It was a message forwarded to me by a Riverside-Albert farmer that spurred me to act on a national “Save our Seed “campaign instigated by the National Farmers Union. Just like everybody else, until I received this email, I had no idea my rights as a farmer to harvest, store and replant my own seeds were endangered, and that the issue had reached our federal government. ​
The Problem The biggest, wealthiest and most powerful agro seed and chemical corporations (Bayer, which now owns Monsanto; Syngenta, which is a subsidiary of ChemChina; DowDuPont; Cargill; Limagrain; BASF; and their subsidiaries such as Canterra and Pride) have been aggressively lobbying our federal government to pass regulations preventing Canadian farmers from saving, storing, exchanging, reusing, reselling their own seeds.

This issue has been kept under wraps, but fortunately was recently made public by the National Farmers Union.

If our Federal government agrees to pass this regulation for these corporations, Canadian farmers will no longer be able to save their seeds. They’ll be forced to buy new seeds every year from the controlling corporations and pay royalties. Or even if they save their own seeds, they will still be required to pay royalties to the corporation as if they had bought new seeds. Trying to prevent farmers from saving their seeds has huge implications for the farmer and the consumer. Those who control the seeds control the food supply and control the world.

Seed saving has been done by every culture for thousands of years. Seeds are a common good, like water, air and soil. Seeds should never be allowed to be patented by any company or corporation for any reason...The above story is no joke. It is very real. Our food security is at risk. The diversity of crops is at risk and so is our health due to the actions of these companies.

It has already happened with the genetically modified seeds (GMOs). GMO seeds are inserted with a gene from unrelated species. Genes are introduced into the cell of a plant using a gene gun and every GMO food has antibiotic-resistance genes. This has resulted in less diversity in crops throughout the world, as well as bankruptcies and suicides among farmers as they become indebted to these corporate seed giants. (Read Seed Sovereignty, Food Security by Vandana Shiva.)

Farmers are the doctors of the land. We depend on their knowledge for our very survival. This knowledge needs to be passed on to the next generation. If farmers go bankrupt, our food supply is at risk. It’s time that our government stands up for farmers and consumers.

I like to urge people to stand up for the right to save seed. For more information, from the National Farmers Union see www.nfu.ca

Or write to your MLA. The Elgin Women’s Institute has also written in support of the farmers and citizens. I cannot do it alone, I need your help.

Moranda van Geest, Elgin 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Views from Albert County

    Tell us why you love life in rural Albert County and share your views about the wonders, the treasures and challenges of living here.

    Click here to learn more about the villages in our region, and click here to see a map of communities big and small (or, more accurately, communities small and tiny).

    ​
    Connecting Albert County would like to thank the following supporters & advertisers:

    Platinum supporters
    - Bennett and Albert County Health Care (BACH) Foundation  
    ​- Albert County Pharmacy
    - CR Yardworks & Equipment
    ​​- Hon. Rob Moore, MP for
    Fundy Royal


    Gold supporters
    - CBDC Westmorland Albert 
    - ​Albert County Funeral Home​​


    Silver supporters
    - 
    Albert County Chamber of Commerce 
    - Crooked Creek Convenience 
    - East Coast Kids Child Care & Learning Centre
    ​ 
    - 
    Fireside Home Heating
    ​ 
    - 
    Foods of the Fundy Valley​
    - The Garden Guy (Micheal McBurnie) 
    - 
    Hon. Mike Holland, Minister, MLA-Albert 
    ​
    - 
    The Old Church Farmers' Market​
    - Village of Hillsborough
    - Village of Riverside-Albert

    Bronze supporters

    - Broadleaf Ranch ​
    - CCRC
    ​
    - 
    Cape Enrage Fundy Log Cabin
    - Falcon Ridge Inn B&B 
    - Fundy Highlands Motel and Chalets
    - Hillsborough Baptist Church 
    - Jeff MacDougall, SouthEastern Mutual Insurance 
    -​ Village of Alma


    If you would like to support Connecting Albert County, visit our Advertising page or Donation page. With your support, we can continue to share the news of rural Albert County.

    Comments
    We welcome comments to our blog postings. Please provide your email address and name with your comment, and respect our content guidelines.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All
    Albert County
    Albert County NB
    Alma
    Alma Celebration Days
    Bay Of Fundy
    Buy Local
    Chamber Of Commerce
    Childcare
    Childhood
    Children
    Christmas
    Christmas Shopping
    Community Collaboration
    Community Events
    Community Involvement
    Couchsurfing
    Daycare
    Day Care
    Drivers
    East Coast Kids
    Economy
    Ecosystem
    Education
    Educators
    Electoral Reform
    Farmers Market
    Fundy
    Fundy Park
    Fundy Shoreline
    Harvest
    Hillsborough
    History
    Home-made Candles
    Home-made Gifts
    Honourable Mike Holland
    Hopewell Rocks
    Hospitality
    Learning
    Local Service Districts
    Logging
    LSDs
    Marshes
    Memoir
    Moranda Van Geest
    Mystery
    NB
    New Brunswick
    Nuts
    Open Letter
    Poetry
    Protected Area
    Public Library
    Response
    Riverside-Albert
    Road Construction
    Salt Marsh
    Save Our Seed
    Seed Campaign
    Shepody
    Shepody Food Bank
    Shepody Mountain
    Single Member-Proportional Vote
    Southeast Regional Service Commission
    Spring
    The Old Church Farmers Market
    Tourism
    Urban Drivers
    Vendors
    Volunteer
    Warm Showers
    Waterside
    Woodlots

    RSS Feed

CONTACT
ADVERTISING
CALENDAR
​PUBLICATION

SiteLock
Copyright © Connecting Albert County, 2016 | Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada
  • Home
  • News
  • Stories
    • Learning & Literacy
    • Food, Farming & Fishing >
      • Recipe Collection
    • Culture & Heritage
    • Wellness
    • Environment
    • Opinions, letters and reflections
  • About Us
  • Jobs
  • E-magazine
  • Calendar
  • Albert County
    • Living in Albert County
    • Our Villages
    • Attractions
    • Community Groups
  • Advertising
  • Donate
  • Exploring Our Trails
  • Blog