Stop patents on normal seeds

MISEREOR has initiated the Global Appeal "Keep out patents on conventional seeds and animals" with 4 other organisations:
"In order to secure the continued existence of independent farming, breeding and livestock keeping and hence the food security of future generations, we, the undersigned farmers, researchers, and civil society organisations from all over the world, restate our rejection of any patents on life, and urge policy makers and patent offices to act swiftly to stop any patents being granted on conventionally bred plants and animals and on gene sequences for use with conventional breeding technique, as well as on methods for the conventional breeding of plants and animals. We also urge companies not to apply for any patents of this kind."
(www.no-patents-on-seeds.org )

And analyse and description of patents on pigs, breeding methods and new developments in the patent sector is described in the report:
The future of seeds and food under the growing
threat of patents and market concentration (pdf, 584 KB)

Sustainable land use: the way to food security
Sustainable agriculture integrates local conditions and experiences made by small-scale and subsistence farmers. Step by step, cultivation practices and soil fertility are optimised by adopting low-cost, traditional and site-appropriate methods. The seeds remain under control of the farmers. At the same time, MISEREOR is of course committed to development cooperation with the people concerned by supporting their projects and programmes: in the Philippines, for example, small-scale farmers together with scientists founded the organisation MASIPAG. Supported by MISEREOR, MASIPAG has been very successful in putting locally appropriate sustainable agriculture based on traditional knowledge into real practice. The farmers using MASIPAG-recommended farming methods are achieving very good yields, and their livelihoods are based on economic and environmental sustainability.