Am I the only person getting concerned with the possibility of our government controlling our food supply to the point of not allowing people to grow their own food, or licensing whether food is grown or not?
I've written on here about Monsanto and how they have patented seeds, so you cannot save seeds from produce grown from their patented seeds. So you have to basically "license" to use their seeds.
Last night my boyfriend went to the grocery store, and got some produce. First I learned of his seedless oranges that he'd bought, and there are seedless watermelons and grapes. Now last night he cut open a green pepper to find that it was seedless.
I understand that this started for reasons of convenience. It is so much nicer to eat a piece of watermelon and not have to spit out a ton of seeds in the process.
But is anyone else concerned of the potential abuses? Seeds patented, licensed and controlled. The inability to grow produce that contain seeds. The threat of having to continually pay for more seeds to continue growing produce? The threat to our right to just "grow". To lose our right to trade seeds, save seeds, to grow heirloom vegetables.
I'm really not a conspiracy theorist. Honest! I'm usually trying to be the "voice of reason" with my friends who ARE conspiracy theorists. But I'm just saying...
Is anyone else concerned?
Front garden makeover update
4 months ago
Yes, I'm really concerned. Also, many things that you buy that could be grown for more food, eg. garlic, has been fumigated so it won't grow. 'Terminator seeds' is the next disturbing vanguard - seeds sold to developing countries that are designed to only work for one season. They cannot be saved to replant.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure seedless produce alone is a reason to be concerned (most people who buy their produce at grocery stores don't seem to be interested in saving the seeds, and seedless hybrids have coexisted with heirloom varieties for quite a while). I do see this as a reason to choose heirloom varieties rather than hybrids for the garden, and to save my own seeds or support independent seed growers rather than buying from large companies. I am very concerned about the issue of patents for seeds, especially for wind-pollinated plants because they can so easily contaminate neighbouring plants with patented genetic material, but I haven't seen anything yet that makes me think the government is discouraging people from growing heirloom vegetables and saving the seeds. We're dealing with different governments, though.
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