### Reader’s Letter to The Observer, 14 July 2024 ###
Dear Editor,
I read Robin McKie’s piece on the seed-collection of the plant-scientist Arthur Watkins and was fascinated (The Observer, 14th July 2024, link below). Indeed, yes, it is excellent that Mr Watkins took the initiative and stored those strains of wheat.
But when it was described that “scientists have created a genetic goldmine by pinpointing previously unknown genes that are now being used to create hardy varieties with improved yields”, my heart sank: Surely this means that those strains of wheat, which had been selected and passed on by generations of poor farmers, will now be sequenced, developed, patented and then sold back to farmers for a hefty profit. That seems wrong!
And when it was mentioned that “Very few scientists were thinking of this issue in those days”, I agreed but then asked myself what we have been doing in modern times? For example King Charles has been banging the drum for organic and diverse agriculture for decades but has been systematically ridiculed. And here in Europe, I often see small strips of wild-flowers with big EU-signs trumpeting “biodiversity” when those strips are in fact next to endless acres of sterile, chemically-treated mono-culture.
As it is, I have a friend who works at “Sativa” (in Switzerland) where they preserve diverse seed-types but that is a small, niche operation so I ask myself why it is always “the big operators” who get all the subsidies, favorable regulation and profit: It is because they have the biggest lobbies and we, the public, want our food “on the cheap”. But, of course, in the end, everything has its price!
I have been following the unrest in Kenya and it was mentioned that one issue against which the public is protesting is the government’s move to ban “seed-sharing” (link below). The right and the ability of farmers to share and exchange their seed-stock should be sacrosanct but someone wants to stop that: Obviously this has been initiated by “big agriculture” who want to sell their (patented, chemical-dependent and/or single-crop-hybrid) seed-products to farmers. So, if “Big Agri” can get those laws passed in Africa, I am sure that, decades ago, they pulled out all the stops here in Europe and also made sure that self-selected seeds were quickly eclipsed by their products.
So, yes, this might be a “feel-good story” but I think we need to urgently look at legislation (locally, nationally and globally) to make sure that healthy, diverse practices have space to exist and that the “big players” are not simply allowed to rule the roost. As is currently the case.
Yours,
Alan Mitcham
Link to original article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/14/goldmine-collection-of-wheat-from-100-years-ago-may-help-feed-the-world-scientists-say
Link to “Sativa”: https://www.sativa.bio
Banning of “seed-sharing” in Kenya (go to Min 15:59): https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2024/7/12/is-a-new-government-the-answer-to-kenyas-problems
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