Vandana Shiva on Huffington Post: seed freedom campaign and LIFE project SEMENte parTEcipata

In the article that appeared in the Huffington Post on March 20, 2015 Vandana Shiva, President of Navdanya International, speaks of the seeds and the project Life Semente Partecipata. The seed are the first link in the food chain and the custodians of life. They must be defended from extinction and homologation imposed by the industrial model of agriculture. On this basis with Navdanya International from 2012 we started the "Global Campaign for Seed Freedom" to educate people, communities, institutions and governments to the serious risk for the future of food security and seed worldwide. On the occasion of the 2015 Green Train, Navdanya Intenational came on board the campaign of Legambiente and Railways, to bring his message on the journey through the regions of Italy to Milan for Expo 2015. To speak with citizens, to involve more young people, to share our experiences and to understand that saving the seeds means to defend democracy and food security. This is the strong message that we want to arrive at the Expo in Milan.
The fundamental objective of our campaign is to give individuals the knowledge that each individual, through its consumption and its actions can push governments and institutions to back down on patents and the laws that are subtracting freedom on the seeds. Farmers around the world have reproduced the seeds increasing the diversity, strength, taste, nutritional value, health and adaptation to local agro-ecosystems. Industrial production instead gives no value to the contribution of nature and the farmers. Also seed patents are legally wrong, because the seeds are not an invention, the seeds are the basis of life. Unfortunately the phenomenon is spreading: now companies patenting also the seeds produced in the conventional manner and the seeds saved by farmers are at risk. These trends demonstrate that they will reach a total control on supply of seeds and the destruction of the basis of agriculture. We are witnessing a seed emergency globally.
So we want to build real alternatives with participatory research projects that see the collaboration in the field between farmers and researchers. We start from Tuscany, a region with which I have worked for many years and in which many "farmers keepers" have saved and played local seeds and where Monday, March 23 in the stop of the Treno Verde (Green Train) at Arezzo Station will present the important project Life Semente Partecipata in order to preserve, in a joint action between research institutes and farmers in the field, old varieties of durum wheat. The research aims to demonstrate scientifically that the seeds originate, richest genetic biodiversity, are also the ones that better withstand climate changes as well as having the best quality and nutritional characteristics that may be more suited to people with various types of allergies affecting a percentage population increasing.