Early next week (9-10 December 2024) the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the EU will discuss the new EU Regulation on the Production and Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material (PRM) that was proposed by the Commission in July 2023. This proposal is particularly detrimental as it threatens the conservation and circulation of the diversity of cultivated plants in favour of industrial seed production, disregarding farmers’ right to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds,
as enshrined in international law.
For over a year now, organisations all over Europe have joined forces and garnered public support through the Raise your fork for diversity! campaign, which has reached nearly 170,000 signatures. The latest step in the advocacy to oppose the proposal has been a joint Call for Urgent and Important Changes, sent by 139 organisations to the 27 EU Agriculture Ministers and the new EU Health Commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, in advance of the Council meeting next week,.
In their press release, the organisations explain:
The current legislative proposal poses a massive threat to the diversity of our cultivated plants and to the right of our farmers to use their own seeds
…
Based on the proposal, activities aimed at saving rare varieties—such as the transfer of cuttings from endangered apple trees or sharing of endangered bean varieties— would be regulated as “marketing” for the first time.
Four demands are put forward with regards to the new EU seed legislation:
- The conservation and sustainable use of locally adaptable crop diversity is the over-riding priority.
- The human right of farmers and gardeners to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds must be implemented fully.
- The marketing of diverse and locally adaptable varieties by regional seed producers must be facilitated.
- Newly approved varieties must not be dependent on pesticides or synthetic fertilisers.
Read the full press release: 139 Organisations and 160000 citizens appeal to EU Agriculture Ministers
Learn more about the public campaign and give your support by signing the petition.
