With the coming of spring, farmers look for information on what to seed. On a recentFarmgateTV program, Bob Simpson talked about flax with Dave Sefton.
From the interview, one can see farmers are in a chess game with companies who develop seed varieties. Checkmate will be when farmers have to buy certified seed.
As an opening gambit, the multinationals removed kernel visual distinguishability. To keep up Canada’s reputation for good quality grain, farmers now have to sign declarations at every elevator where they haul grain.
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If their information about the grain is incorrect, the penalty is severe. At the time, there was a suggestion the only way a farmer could avoid penalties would be to buy certified seed.
When the Europeans found (genetically modified) flax in what they were buying, the companies were ready to pounce. The industry said they would only buy flax grown from certified seed.
Imagine the industry’s frustration when farmers found that buying certified seed was no guarantee to avoid (GM) genetics. The industry backed down. …
Seed companies hate competition. They do not like farmers saving their own seed. Multinationals want to influence and control farmers. Unless farmers are alert, it will be only a matter of time until their right to use their own seed is eliminated.
This might happen sooner than we expect. Harper wants to sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. I have heard that in this agreement seed companies will have the right to seize farmland, machinery, bank accounts and e-mails with only the accusation of “alleged infringements.”
This will scare farmers into buying certified seed to avoid not only penalties but losing their farms. Our forefathers were serfs to land barons in the Old Country. If this agreement is signed, we will have Harper’s so-called free enterprise government forcing our children to be serfs to multinational companies.
In this chess game, that is checkmate.
Lorne Jackson,Riverhurst, Sask.
