Farmers Have Rights Too!

Farmers’ Legal rights are a precondition for the maintenance of a crops genetic diversity, which is the basis of all food and agriculture production in the world. Basically, realizing Farmers’ Rights means enabling farmers to develop and maintain great crops using genetic resources as they have done since the dawn of man. They have made great changes in agriculture, and seeing and rewarding them for this indispensable contribution to the global pool of genetic resources.

The amount of different plants is huge

Plant genetic assortment is probably more important for farming than any other environmental factor, simply because it is the factor that enables adaptation to changing environmental conditions such as plant diseases and climate change. You think all that smog in the air doesn’t alter their genes? Thus, as a precondition for the maintenance of this diversity, certain farmers are crucial for ensuring future and present food security in general, and in the fight against rural poverty in particular. So for this reason we see the benefit of looking further into this.

The International Treaty dealing with Plant Genes

This web page is about those workers who try the best they can to make a difference. They are addressed in the International Treaties on Plant Genetic Resourcess for Food and Agriculture. The agreement recognizes the enormous contributions made by many talented farmers worldwide in conserving and developing diverse crop genetic resources. They have even worked on the benefits of Medical Marijuana.
The International Treaty does, however, not define which of the laws that the farmers need to follow. The following is a working definition developed on the basis of the research of me and can be seen as a lowest common denominator of all people consulted and all documents and literature surveyed:

We all have the right to help the farmers to save, use, exchange and sell farm saved seeds and getting material, and having their rights  be recognized, reward and support for their contributions to the global group of genetic resources as well as to the development of commercial varieties of plants, and to participate in decision making on issues related to crop genetic resources.