Appropriation of seeds

Food and Technological Sovereignty at Risk

Abstract

Since the mid-twentieth century, two events had a decisive impact on the production and commercialization of seeds: the appearance of hybrid seeds, and the expansion of biotechnologies applied to agriculture, which led to a jump in the privatization of knowledge. The seeds thus acquired a strategic interest in the development of global agriculture. This paper analyzes these processes in Argentina and discusses various devices developed in the country related to this topic. In particular, the Law of Seeds and the various attempts to modify it; disputes over the collection of royalties and the bilateral contracts between Monsanto and the producers. It concludes, on the one hand, that any advance of the logic of appropriation and elimination of rights of the farmers to the reseeding puts in risk our Food Sovereignty. On the other hand, a new agro-food model based on agroecology is needed, with a focus on the production of healthy and culturally appropriate foods, and on the care of biodiversity and natural resources.