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The Beautiful One whom I adore
Has pitched His royal tent inside of you,
So I will always lean my heart
As close to your soul
As I can.
~ Hafiz
American seed companies reacted strongly when the US Department of Agriculture, which had a spectacularly successful seed improvement research program, distributed 1 billion packets of seeds to farmers. American seed companies responded by hiring the world’s first lobbyist in Washington to oppose these giveaways.
Hybridisation was the next step towards seed control followed by genetically modified seeds. Because seeds can’t be collected from the plants of these types of seeds, like they could before with natural seeds and plants (now called ‘heirloom seeds’), farmers have to return to the seed companies to buy seeds, each time they wish to plant a crop.
The consequences in the US are the following:-
In India, farmers replaced traditional cotton varieties with GM cotton, forcing them into debt. Having lost their original seed strains, they were unable to return to their proven agricultural systems and hundreds of thousands of farmers committed suicide.
Diversity in seed stocks is as endangered as a panda, an eagle or a polar bear. This DVD explains these important developments in the basis of our food supply chain – seeds.