Video Series – Save our Seeds!
These videos were put together by NFU Youth in an effort to present the voices and concerns of the NFU and its members to a wider audience.
Plant Breeders Rights and how they affect Seed Sovereignty
In 2019 Ag Canada held consultations on proposals to increase seed royalties either by an End Point Royalty or with Trailing Contracts. The proposed royalty scheme would have farmers who use their own seed pay millions of dollars more to seed companies every year, and make illegal the ancient practice of freely saving and reusing seed by creating new regulations under the Plant Breeders Rights Act. In this February 21 2019 webinar, Terry Boehm, Chair of the National Farmers Union Seed Committee and former NFU President, explains how the proposed royalty system would harm farmers, citizens, and society in general — and what we can do to stop this from happening. The webinar also included a Question and Answer session.
Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation given or watch the webinar below (1.25 hours):
2014 Save Our Seed Campaign against Bill C-18
The following videos were created by NFU Youth in 2014 as part of our campaign against UPOV 91. Special thanks to video producers Dean Harder and Terran Giacomini as well as the many transcribers, interviewees, and NFU staff who have helped along the way.
Save Our Seeds – Part 1: What is UPOV ’91?
This is the 1st in a series of videos on Bill C-18 — the omnibus agriculture bill that seeks to align Canada’s seed laws with the international UPOV ’91 system. This video highlights the key mechanisms in UPOV ’91 that increase the rights of large corporate plant breeders including Monsanto, and severely restrict farmers’ age-old right to save and reuse seeds.
- UPOV: International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants or UPOV (French: Union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales) is an intergovernmental organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Save Our Seeds – Part 2: Royalties & Cascading Rights
This is the second in a series of videos on Bill C-18 — the omnibus agriculture bill that seeks to align Canada’s seed laws with the international UPOV ’91 system. This video explains how UPOV ’91 transfers ever more wealth produced by farmers to the shareholders of the multinational conglomerates that hold Plant Breeders’ Rights in Canada.
Save Our Seeds – Part 3: Innovation Manipulation
This is the 3rd part in a series of videos on Bill C-18 — the omnibus agriculture bill that seeks to align Canada’s seed laws with the international UPOV ’91 system. The federal government claims we need UPOV ’91 to promote innovation. However, if passed, Bill C-18 will transfer more power and control over seeds to multi-national agribusiness firms including Monsanto, while increasing farmers’ costs and reducing farmers’ autonomy and Canadian sovereignty.
