On creating alternatives

In news that won't get anywhere near enough attention, the National Farmers Union is asking the federal government to take action against terminator seeds:

A coalition of farmers and development groups is urging the federal government to ban “suicide seeds,” which they say will ruin farmers while enriching corporations.

Colleen Ross of the National Farmers Union says Ottawa is not listening to farmers on the issue.

The seeds are genetically modified to produce sterile offspring, meaning farmers have to buy new seed every spring instead of saving some from the previous year's crop...

A United Nations conference in Brazil this week is to decide whether or not to lift a global moratorium on the seeds.

For all the talk about how best to help out Canadian farmers, it seems to me that one of the more obvious solutions (albeit one which would take some time to have its intended effect) would be to ensure that more seed research is done by publicly-funded bodies who have an interest in developing sustainable seeds, rather than by businesses whose profit margin is based on the seeds being useful for only one year's crop.

The NFU's effort is the first step in raising awareness of the issue of terminator seeds. But in the longer term the moratorium can't be sustained if farmers don't have an alternative...and that'll require substantially more decisive government action than merely holding on to the status quo.