Seeds

National Farmers Union (Canada)
Seed Saver Campaign
The rights of farmers and other Canadians to save, reuse, exchange, and sell seeds are under attack. The NFU is fighting back for our rights. Please see the NFU Seeds Factsheets for an overview of this issue and for information on the NFU’s campaign and how you can get involved. For detailed information on changes that seed companies are proposing, read “Nine Things That Farmers Need To Know About The Seed Sector Review.”

Overview
Appropriation of a living agent by means of a patent is the subject of a
debate which is characterised both by well-meaning intentions and by
lack of knowledge of the subject. The debate reached its climax in
France when the European Patent Office (EPO) granted Myriad, an
American company, a monopoly for genetic diagnosis of breast
cancer. Thanks to Jacques Warcoin, this patent was withdrawn in June
2004 by the EPO’s Opposition Division, to the satisfaction of those
who saw in this retraction the refusal to allow the appropriation of
living beings, objects or human genes. Jacques Warcoin shows that

Jeff Kirkpatrick
(Former Communications Director for Nebraska Farmers Union, currently an attorney with McHenry, Haszard, Hansen, Roth, & Hupp, P.C. in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA)
1995 (not previously published)

Garrett Hardin's article The Tragedy of the Commons1 has spawned a rash of essays and articles since its publication in 1968. In many of those articles free market and private property advocates have pointed to the "Tragedy" as a clear example of how a communal property system failed, overcome by its inherent inefficiency and the obvious superiority of a private property system. There have been occasional scholars, most notably Susan Cox2, who have pointed out the historical record does not show a "tragedy" in the European "commons" farming system. I would go a step beyond Cox. Not only does the historical record fail to support the lessons which private property proponents cite, the record can teach us some valuable lessons about how community property ownership can succeed, lessons which can be applied to modern commons situations.