1
00:00:02,995 --> 00:00:05,991
Dig your hand in the land, and listen to my story,

2
00:00:05,991 --> 00:00:11,792
feel the cotton, wheat and corn, the riches and the glory,

3
00:00:11,792 --> 00:00:15,944
feel the sweaten strain of those who worked before me,

4
00:00:15,944 --> 00:00:19,937
dig your hand down in the land.

5
00:00:26,490 --> 00:00:32,924
[Jeremy Irons] 
Global Agriculture has changed more in our life time than in the previous 10,000 years.

6
00:00:33,570 --> 00:00:38,179
But as with all change, conflicts of interest have arisen.

7
00:00:38,871 --> 00:00:43,674
Nowhere is this conflict more poignant than in the story of seed.

8
00:00:44,305 --> 00:00:49,119
In this film we’ll look at how the seed has changed in farming and in our culture,

9
00:00:49,119 --> 00:00:57,678
from a sacred element, and the giver of life 
to a powerful commodity, used to monopolize global food production.

10
00:00:58,540 --> 00:01:02,382
This conflict between farming and business between knowledge and control,

11
00:01:06,224 --> 00:01:10,066
between truth and propaganda,
lies at the heart of the story of seed.

12
00:01:10,912 --> 00:01:15,067
[Vandana Shiva]
Once a company starts to see 
royalty collections from every seed,

13
00:01:15,067 --> 00:01:21,906
it pushes its genetically engineered crops, to replace the native crops that farmers and peasants have grown over millennia.

14
00:01:21,906 --> 00:01:24,489
[Melaku Worede] 
We don’t know what is in their ecosystem.

15
00:01:24,489 --> 00:01:27,019
We don’t know what we have in it.

16
00:01:27,019 --> 00:01:28,711
[Zac Goldmsith] 
So it’s nothing to do with feeding the world.

17
00:01:28,711 --> 00:01:32,130
It’s nothing to do with tackling some of these huge issues we’re facing today.

18
00:01:32,130 --> 00:01:35,066
It’s about control of the food sector, of the food economy.

19
00:01:37,897 --> 00:01:45,680
SEEDS OF FREEDOM

20
00:02:03,372 --> 00:02:09,732
THE EVOLUTION OF DIVERSITY

21
00:02:14,978 --> 00:02:17,768
We begin the story of seed, thousands of years ago,

22
00:02:17,768 --> 00:02:23,980
at a time when the Earth was covered with disparate communities, isolated by mountains, seas and deserts.

23
00:02:24,826 --> 00:02:30,363
A huge diversity of cultures, traditions and languages evolved across our planet,

24
00:02:30,363 --> 00:02:33,675
adapting to many different climates and ecosystems.

25
00:02:34,921 --> 00:02:39,072
Over centuries the individual societies developed different ideas,

26
00:02:39,072 --> 00:02:45,164
cosmologies, routines, and rituals
creating a vast bedrock of diversity.

27
00:02:46,610 --> 00:02:52,447
Today, there are still communities around the world, who give us an insight into this ancestral past.

28
00:02:53,847 --> 00:02:58,447
All traditional cultures have been based on

29
00:02:58,447 --> 00:03:02,050
the recognition that the most important reason we are here on Earth,

30
00:03:02,050 --> 00:03:05,593
is to play our role in maintaining life in its diversity.

31
00:03:06,731 --> 00:03:09,469
Because seed contains life,

32
00:03:10,377 --> 00:03:16,176
seed has been central to reproducing the culture of life.

33
00:03:16,976 --> 00:03:22,025
And if you look at rituals in India, in Africa, in Latin America.

34
00:03:22,533 --> 00:03:24,588
Seed is at the centre of it.

35
00:03:26,050 --> 00:03:28,463
[Muhammed & Alyalnesh] 
Seed is our life...

36
00:03:30,970 --> 00:03:35,220
Our livelihood depends on it.

37
00:03:36,236 --> 00:03:44,885
[Chief of Vhutanda] 
We plant seeds to welcome new life.

38
00:03:44,885 --> 00:03:48,885
When a boy becomes a man we shower him with seed.

39
00:03:49,561 --> 00:03:54,907
And when a person dies we plant seeds on their grave.

40
00:03:56,168 --> 00:04:01,014
[Kaguna] 
Seeds are not just for food…

41
00:04:02,999 --> 00:04:06,510
They have a spiritual meaning…

42
00:04:06,556 --> 00:04:12,546
We use them when we perform rituals.

43
00:04:25,854 --> 00:04:31,083
As our forebearerss diversified so did their seed, 
and thus their crops.

44
00:04:31,729 --> 00:04:36,388
Long before Darwin articulated his theory of evolution by natural selection,

45
00:04:36,388 --> 00:04:40,119
men and women around the globe were practicing this very process:

46
00:04:40,734 --> 00:04:44,805
resowing seeds best adapted to their particular environment

47
00:04:44,805 --> 00:04:49,004
and thus, becoming a part of the process of evolutionary change.

48
00:04:49,512 --> 00:04:52,617
At the centre of this change was the seed

49
00:04:52,848 --> 00:04:55,890
which each year would be harvested afresh

50
00:04:55,890 --> 00:04:59,196
and could be stored, shared and crossed.

51
00:04:59,673 --> 00:05:04,330
We are the inheritors of this rich global biodiversity.

52
00:05:05,238 --> 00:05:12,857
he more we look at seed and biodiversity, the more we realise that the level of intelligence – in the seed itself -

53
00:05:12,857 --> 00:05:16,710
and in the breeding that farmers have done by working with the seed,

54
00:05:16,710 --> 00:05:20,424
has given us, not just the highest level of biodiversity,

55
00:05:20,424 --> 00:05:23,381
but the highest level of quality of food.

56
00:05:23,381 --> 00:05:25,277
The highest level of nutrition.

57
00:05:26,938 --> 00:05:30,122
[Muhammed]
One variety is not enough for us.

58
00:05:30,830 --> 00:05:33,652
If we lose that, we are lost.

59
00:05:34,313 --> 00:05:36,959
Farmers breed for resilience.

60
00:05:36,959 --> 00:05:40,345
And therefore they breed for cooperative arrangements.

61
00:05:40,345 --> 00:05:41,906
They don’t breed one crop.

62
00:05:42,568 --> 00:05:45,496
They know they must have many crops because the climate changes.

63
00:05:45,496 --> 00:05:49,321
They know they must have many crops, because nutritional needs are diverse.

64
00:05:51,398 --> 00:05:55,361
[Liz Hosken] 
The production of food in indigenous traditions for most of human history

65
00:05:55,361 --> 00:06:00,165
has been to focus on advancing biological diversity.

66
00:06:20,580 --> 00:06:27,198
THE ROAD TO INDUSTRY

67
00:06:34,275 --> 00:06:38,919
At the turn of the 20th century, farming began to rely on technology,

68
00:06:39,411 --> 00:06:42,835
forcing people off their land and into the cities,

69
00:06:42,835 --> 00:06:47,634
as traditional skills and labour were gradually replaced by modern machinery.

70
00:06:48,126 --> 00:06:51,211
But as Europe became embroiled in 2 world wars,

71
00:06:51,211 --> 00:06:55,963
the chemicals produced for warfare were set to change the face of agriculture.

72
00:06:57,301 --> 00:07:02,892
With the world locked in conflict new chemicals began to be produced in large quantities.

73
00:07:03,492 --> 00:07:07,343
And once peace returned, the companies producing these chemicals

74
00:07:07,343 --> 00:07:11,031
needed to created alternative outlets for their products.

75
00:07:11,969 --> 00:07:20,018
By making minor alterations, explosives and nerve agents were reformulated as fertilizers and pesticides,

76
00:07:20,803 --> 00:07:25,053
and chemical agronomy found its way onto farmland around the world.

77
00:07:26,084 --> 00:07:30,738
[Muhammed and wife] Today everything has changed...

78
00:07:32,723 --> 00:07:35,500
Our soil demands food...

79
00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:40,708
It asks for a variety of different foods.

80
00:07:40,708 --> 00:07:44,578
Our fathers never needed these chemicals.

81
00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,425
[Malaku Worede] You’re now brining in a whole lot of chemicals.

82
00:07:48,779 --> 00:07:53,331
And the need continues to grow – it’s not static,

83
00:07:53,946 --> 00:07:55,974
and that need never ends.

84
00:07:55,974 --> 00:08:01,818
At one point our soils began to erode,to wear out…

85
00:08:02,033 --> 00:08:05,085
We say they became “drug addicts”.

86
00:08:05,639 --> 00:08:08,658
They became dependent on these fertilizers.

87
00:08:09,227 --> 00:08:12,434
If you choose to use fertilizer one season…

88
00:08:13,526 --> 00:08:18,320
The next season, you must use that fertilizer again. There’s no choice.

89
00:08:33,443 --> 00:08:36,633
[Jeremy Irons] As the farmyard mechanised and chemical use increased,

90
00:08:37,202 --> 00:08:40,459
the story of seed was also about to change.

91
00:08:41,567 --> 00:08:44,756
Natural cycles of seeds saving and sharing,

92
00:08:44,756 --> 00:08:47,169
which had kept business interests at bay,

93
00:08:47,169 --> 00:08:50,839
were challenged by a new breakthrough in seed breeding (bridging):

94
00:08:50,839 --> 00:08:52,707
New hybrid seeds

95
00:08:53,138 --> 00:09:00,088
crosses of two inbred parent plants, produced genetically rich first generation seeds,

96
00:09:00,765 --> 00:09:05,539
which would quickly lose vitality in the second and third season.

97
00:09:05,877 --> 00:09:09,437
This natural process of hybrid breakdown,

98
00:09:09,437 --> 00:09:13,747
meant that farmers no longer benefitted from replanting their seed.

99
00:09:14,316 --> 00:09:17,331
Instead they had to buy new seed each season.

100
00:09:17,869 --> 00:09:23,274
This allowed international corporations to privatise and control the profits from seed.

101
00:09:23,997 --> 00:09:29,872
In the 1960’s these corporations began a worldwide proliferation of their new seeds,

102
00:09:30,410 --> 00:09:35,948
recognising global agriculture as an untapped and hugely profitable market,

103
00:09:35,948 --> 00:09:40,952
they set forth to, in effect, privatise the world’s food system.

104
00:09:41,475 --> 00:09:45,912
Farmers around the world left their traditional farming systems in droves;

105
00:09:46,174 --> 00:09:51,526
buying into a dream of greater productivity, less labour, and more money.

106
00:09:52,172 --> 00:09:56,798
Monocrops, like tea and coffee began to replace indigenous crop species,

107
00:09:57,260 --> 00:10:01,207
and subsistence farming –on which the local community survived -

108
00:10:01,592 --> 00:10:06,495
was replaced by these new mono crops grown to export.

109
00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:13,927
As global food output rose, traditional farmers were being seduced into this new system.

110
00:10:14,804 --> 00:10:18,356
Despite seeing their production costs rise dramatically,

111
00:10:18,787 --> 00:10:24,860
as new seed, fertilizers and pesticides had to be purchased for each new season.

112
00:10:25,460 --> 00:10:30,583
And they found their new crops being subject to unpredictable international markets.

113
00:10:31,445 --> 00:10:37,206
These farmers had unknowingly bought into a system which was proving less resilient,

114
00:10:37,206 --> 00:10:40,887
less sustainable, more expensive and,

115
00:10:40,887 --> 00:10:44,491
ultimately, detrimental to their survival.

116
00:10:45,122 --> 00:10:49,173
[Agnes, Kivaa] When we plant these new seeds...

117
00:10:49,173 --> 00:10:54,585
We can only plant them for one season.

118
00:10:54,585 --> 00:10:58,504
The next season, they won’t perform.

119
00:10:58,504 --> 00:11:04,955
[Norman, Karima, Kenyan elder] Our traditional crops are good for eating.

120
00:11:04,955 --> 00:11:08,817
Whilst the modern crops can be exported.

121
00:11:08,817 --> 00:11:12,574
But we can’t eat coffee.

122
00:11:13,405 --> 00:11:20,810
[Gathuru Mburu] What do you think are the consequences of replacing many different varieties of crops

123
00:11:20,810 --> 00:11:25,105
food crops actually, with a single crop that you cannot eat?

124
00:11:26,259 --> 00:11:31,753
[Caroline Lucas] I think the real concern is that there is an increasing corporate control of the seed chain.

125
00:11:31,753 --> 00:11:35,589
And increasingly that means that a very small number of people

126
00:11:35,589 --> 00:11:39,783
are having a massive influence over the way in which farmers are able to farm.

127
00:11:40,183 --> 00:11:46,076
Traditional practices of saving seed are now under threat and what that does, essentially,

128
00:11:46,076 --> 00:11:51,424
is to put corporate profit ahead of the ability of farmers to feed themselves and their communities.

129
00:11:52,116 --> 00:11:59,530
[Chief of Vhutanda] There are bad consequences to this new seed.

130
00:11:59,530 --> 00:12:05,060
You have to buy it...

131
00:12:05,060 --> 00:12:11,955
And then you can’t store it because it goes rotten.

132
00:12:11,955 --> 00:12:15,818
We’d save money returning to our old seed.

133
00:12:21,849 --> 00:12:26,717
[Narrator] Pieces are linked together in two intertwined chains,

134
00:12:26,717 --> 00:12:30,736
forming a framework, like a long spiral staircase.

135
00:12:31,182 --> 00:12:35,056
And in this molecule you have an essential quality of living matter.

136
00:12:35,441 --> 00:12:39,193
The ability to reproduce, to make copies of itself.

137
00:12:39,516 --> 00:12:42,063
And of all the molecules known to chemistry,

138
00:12:42,063 --> 00:12:45,872
only DNA and its relatives have this ability

139
00:12:45,872 --> 00:12:48,573
[CONTROLLING THE SEED]

140
00:12:48,789 --> 00:12:53,867
[Jeremy Irons] In 1953 Watson and Crick’s discovery of the DNA double helix,

141
00:12:53,867 --> 00:12:57,825
set the stage for one of sciences most rapid advances.

142
00:12:58,071 --> 00:13:00,156
Genetic Engineering.

143
00:13:00,156 --> 00:13:05,720
The ability to move genes between cells, organisms and species,

144
00:13:06,166 --> 00:13:07,992
soon became feasible.

145
00:13:08,577 --> 00:13:12,766
In agriculture, the possibilities of such engineering seemed limitless.

146
00:13:12,766 --> 00:13:19,995
Higher yields, greater resilience to droughts, better flavour and quicker maturation.

147
00:13:20,488 --> 00:13:26,836
But as this new technology emerged it was accompanied by (fearst) debate to its ethics.

148
00:13:27,313 --> 00:13:31,746
Meanwhile the most significant role of this new technology

149
00:13:31,746 --> 00:13:36,339
was being decided not in the field but in the court room.

150
00:13:37,124 --> 00:13:42,411
[Archive:] “The United States constitution gives congress the power to pass laws relating to patents,

151
00:13:42,411 --> 00:13:45,412
which gives its owner certain rights to an invention.

152
00:13:45,889 --> 00:13:56,110
Those include the right to keep others from making, using, selling, or offering for sale the invention that is described in the patent.”

153
00:13:56,110 --> 00:14:02,791
Intellectual property laws had long asserted that patents could be claimed on new and proven inventions.

154
00:14:03,529 --> 00:14:10,278
But in 1995, the World Trade Organisation proposed a radical change in international law.

155
00:14:10,509 --> 00:14:18,129
Under pressure from global corporations they ruled that micro-organisms, and microbiological processes,

156
00:14:18,129 --> 00:14:21,852
already existing in nature, could be patented.


157
00:14:22,606 --> 00:14:28,294
Under this new law, a seed could be genetically engineered to contain particular genes,

158
00:14:28,294 --> 00:14:32,615
which could then themselves be patented and privately owned.

159
00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:40,658
[Vandana Shiva] As far as the seed is concerned, this leap, in terms of property rights on life itself,

160
00:14:40,658 --> 00:14:43,011
is the most serious threat

161
00:14:43,626 --> 00:14:48,664
to seeds of diversity, seeds of freedom, that are in the hands of peasants.

162
00:14:49,449 --> 00:14:55,916
[Jeremy Irons] A year later the agro-chemical giant Monsanto produced the first GM crop in America:

163
00:14:56,485 --> 00:15:02,115
“RoundUp Ready” soya, which was quickly followed by GM corn and canola.

164
00:15:02,977 --> 00:15:07,491
The genetically modified seeds contained a single noble trait,

165
00:15:08,075 --> 00:15:14,156
they´d been engineered specifically to resist the toxic effects of the chemical herbicide RoundUp,

166
00:15:14,709 --> 00:15:18,538
Monsanto´s number 1 selling herbicide since the 1980’s.

167
00:15:19,014 --> 00:15:22,919
[Vandana Shiva] To put in a gene for herbicide resistance:

168
00:15:22,919 --> 00:15:29,102
you now have a monopoly on the chemical, as well as on the seed that is married to the chemical.

169
00:15:29,102 --> 00:15:32,210
[John Vidal] They are chemical companies first, but they are seed companies second.

170
00:15:32,210 --> 00:15:37,120
That is their… If you can control the seed, you control the profit from growing food.

171
00:15:37,751 --> 00:15:40,521
[Zac Goldsmith] You create a monopoly when you’re providing the seeds,

172
00:15:40,521 --> 00:15:44,605
which have been engineered to be resistant to the pesticides that are used on those seeds.

173
00:15:44,605 --> 00:15:48,345
The net effect of that is that we’re seeing a vastly increased use of pesticides,

174
00:15:48,345 --> 00:15:50,801
which is one of the things that GM was supposed to be tackling.

175
00:15:51,463 --> 00:15:57,781
[Jeremy Irons] Twenty years since GM first hit our markets and the promises of early research remain unfulfilled.

176
00:15:58,150 --> 00:16:02,565
RoundUp-Ready technology dominates the GM market in America.

177
00:16:02,780 --> 00:16:06,166
And now the story of seed will return to the court room

178
00:16:06,412 --> 00:16:10,486
as the full implications of patent law became clear to the world.

179
00:16:12,594 --> 00:16:17,325
[Percy Schmeiser] And I'll never forget, when my wife and I left our door here, the front door

180
00:16:17,325 --> 00:16:25,791
my wife turned around and said "I hope to God I have a roof over my head tonight when I come home."

181
00:16:25,791 --> 00:16:28,541
That’s how close we were to losing everything.

182
00:16:28,541 --> 00:16:30,292
We had put everything on the line,

183
00:16:31,323 --> 00:16:34,933
and I feel sorry for the farmers that didn’t have that opportunity

184
00:16:34,933 --> 00:16:37,928
and who have lost their farms, hundreds of them.

185
00:16:38,681 --> 00:16:45,758
[Jeremy Irons] Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser had been growing canola, saving and breeding the seed for 50 years.

186
00:16:46,112 --> 00:16:51,931
But in 1998, some of his seed was found to contain the patented RoundUp ready gene.

187
00:16:52,700 --> 00:16:57,953
[Percy Schmeiser] Whether it’s seeds blown in from your neighbours field, pollen flow from the wind or from bees,

188
00:16:58,307 --> 00:17:02,060
If that happens to you, you no longer own your seeds, your plants,

189
00:17:02,060 --> 00:17:06,013
they immediately, under patent law,become the ownership of the corporation.

190
00:17:06,905 --> 00:17:10,762
[Jeremy Irons] Percy was taken to the Canadian Federal Court for patent infringement.

191
00:17:11,377 --> 00:17:15,105
His defence, that the GM presence was accidental

192
00:17:15,105 --> 00:17:20,007
was rejected by the court and in 2000 he was found guilty.

193
00:17:20,576 --> 00:17:24,837
[Percy Schmeiser] They had no record of us ever obtaining their seed or buying their seed.

194
00:17:24,837 --> 00:17:28,760
But they said that because our neighbour grew it and contaminated us –

195
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:30,385
we should not have been using their seed.

196
00:17:30,385 --> 00:17:31,562
We ought to shopuld have known.

197
00:17:31,713 --> 00:17:35,126
Well, that’s completely impossible.

198
00:17:35,126 --> 00:17:38,676
A Canola seed whether its genetically altered or not, or organic,

199
00:17:38,676 --> 00:17:41,775
it looks identically the same, unless you do DNA testing.

200
00:17:42,513 --> 00:17:49,832
[Jeremy Irons] To date, over 140 US farmers have been prosecuted for infringement of intellectual property over seeds.

201
00:17:51,032 --> 00:17:55,401
Thousands more have been investigated for so-called “seed piracy”.

202
00:17:56,170 --> 00:17:57,834
[Henk] What are we supposed to do with seeds?

203
00:17:57,834 --> 00:18:02,884
Seeds are supposed to be planted, multiplied, used, further adapted, etc etc.

204
00:18:02,884 --> 00:18:05,966
That’s exactly what’s not allowed from the corporate mindset.

205
00:18:05,966 --> 00:18:08,732
The corporations sell us the seed, or licence us

206
00:18:08,732 --> 00:18:12,554
to use the seed in a specific way, in the way they are interested to produce it. Full stop.

207
00:18:12,554 --> 00:18:15,477
[Liz Hosken] By controlling the seed you control the farmer.

208
00:18:15,477 --> 00:18:19,254
By controlling the farmer you control the whole food system.

209
00:18:19,639 --> 00:18:22,401
And that’s the legacy of genetics in farming.

210
00:18:23,263 --> 00:18:26,856
[Jeremy Irons] Today, the GM market has spread beyond of North America,

211
00:18:26,856 --> 00:18:32,915
and established itself in Argentina, Paraguy, Brazil and now in India.

212
00:18:33,899 --> 00:18:39,072
Whilst the GM industry claims to be increasing yields and improving lives,

213
00:18:39,364 --> 00:18:44,286
more and more farmers are reporting new and unexpected problems.

214
00:18:44,994 --> 00:18:48,914
In the Indian state of Gujarat, hundreds of thousands of farmers,

215
00:18:48,914 --> 00:18:51,831
persuaded to grow genetically modified BT cotton

216
00:18:51,831 --> 00:18:55,086
– a crop which produces its own pesticide -

217
00:18:55,086 --> 00:19:00,446
found that in time the pests developed their own resistance to the crop.

218
00:19:01,384 --> 00:19:07,364
The rise of these “superpests” has forced the farmers to use ever-stronger pesticides.

219
00:19:08,010 --> 00:19:14,483
[Vandana Shiva] Instead of controlling pests, and controlling weeds, you are getting super pests, and super weeds.

220
00:19:14,483 --> 00:19:20,591
So even in the narrow domain of weed control and pest control, the technology is failing.

221
00:19:21,806 --> 00:19:26,229
[Jeremy Irons] With the rising costs of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides,

222
00:19:26,813 --> 00:19:30,250
many farmers have been forced into a spiral of debt.

223
00:19:30,742 --> 00:19:36,530
And the spread of GM cotton has been linked to a tragic increase of suicides among Indian farmers.

224
00:19:41,453 --> 00:19:46,360
In Argentina, thousands of small farmers have been forced to leave their land,

225
00:19:46,945 --> 00:19:51,669
unable to compete economically with highly mechanised monocrop farms.

226
00:19:52,961 --> 00:19:59,185
Many non-GM farmers have found it impossible to avoid the RoundUp herbicide blowing in from neighbours land

227
00:19:59,739 --> 00:20:03,872
and see their crops and their livelihoods perish.

228
00:20:04,426 --> 00:20:11,369
And with the mass exodus of farmers from their land, farm biodiversity has dicreased still further.

229
00:20:11,861 --> 00:20:18,360
Traditional crops have been replaced. Herbicide use has risen dramatically.

230
00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:24,515
And hard learned knowledge and farming systems have been elbowed aside.

231
00:20:24,515 --> 00:20:27,242
[Melaku Worede] With the loss of diversity you lose your security.

232
00:20:27,657 --> 00:20:34,837
Because, diversity is synonymous with security. It also means improved livelihood.

233
00:20:35,022 --> 00:20:39,435
It means improved nutrition. It means improved division of labour.

234
00:20:39,681 --> 00:20:42,048
All this would be lost to one crop.


235
00:20:43,125 --> 00:20:47,130
[Henk Hobbelink] We have to realise that diversity means survival.

236
00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,748
Diversity means being able to continue to produce.

237
00:20:51,410 --> 00:20:53,223
Being able to continue to be a farmer.

238
00:20:54,238 --> 00:20:59,677
And without that I think it’s very important to realise that we’re simply not be able

239
00:20:59,677 --> 00:21:04,818
to produce the food that we need if we allow that this kind of diversity is further eroded.

240
00:21:16,249 --> 00:21:22,549
[Jeremy Irons] Behind the global push for GM, and its emergence in new countries in Africa, Asia and South America,

241
00:21:23,334 --> 00:21:26,434
one message has underpinned its progress.

242
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:34,337
That the developing world is struggling and impoverished and unable to feed itself,

243
00:21:34,875 --> 00:21:39,220
but that GM can turn around their beleaguered fortunes.

244
00:21:39,959 --> 00:21:43,995
[Henk Hobbelink] The poor farmers out there, they are not really efficient, and they have these old seeds,

245
00:21:43,995 --> 00:21:49,769
and they need to become more productive, and then the problems of hunger in the world are being solved.

246
00:21:50,492 --> 00:21:54,207

That message is not based on facts at all.

247
00:21:54,637 --> 00:21:57,326
[Kumi Naidoo] We are concerned about starving people in Africa.

248
00:21:57,818 --> 00:21:59,854
We are concerned about starving people in Asia.

249
00:21:59,854 --> 00:22:01,648
Let us be blunt about it.

250
00:22:02,340 --> 00:22:08,783
It is driven by the bottom line, and the financial interests of those companies.

251
00:22:09,091 --> 00:22:14,559
It is not driven by any public-spirited purpose.

252
00:22:15,867 --> 00:22:17,297
[Zac Goldmsith] So it’s nothing to do with feeding the world.

253
00:22:17,297 --> 00:22:20,740
It’s nothing to do with tackling some of these huge issues we’re facing today.

254
00:22:20,740 --> 00:22:23,929
It’s about control of the food sector, of the food economy.

255
00:22:24,698 --> 00:22:30,427
[Ramon Herrera] In reality it is all about control: stopping farmers

256
00:22:30,427 --> 00:22:33,392
from having their own seeds

257
00:22:33,392 --> 00:22:35,743
and at the same time...

258
00:22:35,743 --> 00:22:39,767
... the eradication of independent food production.

259
00:22:39,767 --> 00:22:44,584
The corporations want the control of the food production...

260
00:22:44,584 --> 00:22:47,153
...in the hands of a very few.

261
00:22:48,461 --> 00:22:55,127
[Vandana Shiva] It’s because genetic engineering is being brought to us by the old agrochemical industry,

262
00:22:55,589 --> 00:23:00,263
which is interested in maintaining its agrochemical sales of herbicides and pesticides,

263
00:23:00,355 --> 00:23:04,555
while also establishing a monopoly control on the seed -

264
00:23:04,555 --> 00:23:10,918
that genetic engineering has gone in the totally wrong direction as far as agriculture is concerned.

265
00:23:14,210 --> 00:23:21,020
[Jeremy Irons] Today, the seed and agro-chemical industry has largely fallen under the control of just a few key companies:

266
00:23:21,666 --> 00:23:25,821
Hybrid Seed corporations like Dupont, Syngenta;

267
00:23:26,683 --> 00:23:30,351
agro-chemical companies like Bayer and BASF;

268
00:23:31,336 --> 00:23:33,710
and the GM giant Monsanto

269
00:23:34,372 --> 00:23:41,430
Within this concentrated centre of power, lies not only the massive profits from seed production,

270
00:23:41,984 --> 00:23:45,013
but the decision making and agenda setting,

271
00:23:45,444 --> 00:23:50,778
which will ultimately establish the legacy of our global agricultural system.

272
00:23:51,501 --> 00:23:58,604
In this future, crop, and seed diversity will be assigned to the dustbin of history

273
00:23:59,650 --> 00:24:03,781
At a cost that we are only beginning to comprehend.

274
00:24:06,735 --> 00:24:09,508
[Song] Dig your hand in the land

275
00:24:09,508 --> 00:24:11,658
touch the toil and sorrow

276
00:24:11,658 --> 00:24:14,844
in the soil where the greenbacks never grow

277
00:24:14,844 --> 00:24:16,785
on what I borrowed.

278
00:24:16,785 --> 00:24:20,653
Dig down and tell me where is my seed for tomorrow.

279
00:24:20,653 --> 00:24:25,069
Dig your hand down in the land [Song]

280
00:24:25,330 --> 00:24:27,312
[SEEDS OF HOPE]

281
00:24:29,635 --> 00:24:34,208
[Jeremy Irons] The agrochemical and GM industry claims that small-scale,

282
00:24:34,208 --> 00:24:39,006
agroecological farming, is backward and inefficient.

283
00:24:40,391 --> 00:24:45,156
But the reality is that in spite of the unrelenting pressures they face,

284
00:24:45,541 --> 00:24:50,688
it is these farmers who feed 70% of the world’s population.

285
00:24:52,011 --> 00:24:59,076
These traditional farming systems use less land, less water and fewer resources.

286
00:24:59,568 --> 00:25:05,216
They grow healthy, nutritional food, and nurture greater crop diversity.

287
00:25:06,278 --> 00:25:10,183
They protect soils, water and ecosystems.

288
00:25:10,445 --> 00:25:14,654
And they are proving more resilient in the face of climate change.

289
00:25:15,485 --> 00:25:21,582
It is these farming methods that can show us the way forward for real food security.

290
00:25:23,012 --> 00:25:29,522
[Vandana Shiva] Ecological systems: localised, biodiverse, are the ones that are really providing

291
00:25:29,522 --> 00:25:34,756
food, nourishment, health and joy in eating for local communities.

292
00:25:34,756 --> 00:25:37,710
We need to decentralise our food system,

293
00:25:37,710 --> 00:25:43,011
and if we have to decentralise our food system, decentralise seed provisioning.

294
00:25:43,011 --> 00:25:47,618
Seed sovereignity must become very much central to food sovereignty.

295
00:25:48,002 --> 00:25:51,172
[Norman, Karima] We have not lost our seeds.

296
00:25:51,172 --> 00:25:55,719
The problem we face is that they are dwindling.

297
00:25:55,719 --> 00:26:00,183
We can still get them back.

298
00:26:00,183 --> 00:26:02,757
They are still there.

299
00:26:02,757 --> 00:26:09,197
[Mpathe] If we don’t take this opportunity we are going to lose the seed and lose the future.

300
00:26:09,889 --> 00:26:12,802
The future of all, the future of our children.

301
00:26:13,710 --> 00:26:18,536
[Liz Hosken] So farmers around the world are coming together, and are working for food sovereignty

302
00:26:18,936 --> 00:26:22,296
the right for people to produce their own cultural food.

303
00:26:22,619 --> 00:26:31,393
[Agnes Kivaa] When I farm my indigenous food...

304
00:26:31,393 --> 00:26:36,070
I know for certain I will make a harvest.

305
00:26:36,070 --> 00:26:40,333
And so, I know my children will eat.

306
00:26:43,318 --> 00:26:50,330
[Caroline Lucas] I don’t think the public should ever underestimate the potential power that they have should they choose to use it.

307
00:26:50,623 --> 00:26:54,903
And, who would have thought that Murdoch and News Corp could have been brought low by,

308
00:26:54,903 --> 00:26:57,457
really by a sense of outrage.

309
00:26:58,934 --> 00:27:03,087
I think if we have a much bigger public debate around the kinds of agriculture we want

310
00:27:03,087 --> 00:27:07,450
and the kind of practices and techniques of some of those big seed corporations,

311
00:27:07,450 --> 00:27:12,004
we might just get that same degree of outrage and hopefully a system in the long term,

312
00:27:12,004 --> 00:27:14,677
that is better for people, and the planet.

313
00:27:16,954 --> 00:27:21,350
[Mpathe] Then if we look at the ancestral way.

314
00:27:21,350 --> 00:27:27,282
We find the solution to rebuild what has been destroyed.

315
00:27:44,420 --> 00:27:49,224
Narrated by: Jeremy Irons

316
00:27:49,224 --> 00:27:52,420
Remember, you cast a vote about your food system every time you shop.

317
00:27:52,420 --> 00:27:57,759
Buy local, organic and seasonal food, and support farmers, markets and idependent shops.

318
00:27:58,067 --> 00:28:02,440
Find out more about food sovereignty and the movements and campaigns which you can join and support by visiting

319
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,484
www.seedsoffreedom.info

320
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,740
Finally, thank yoy for taking the time to watch "Seeds Of Freedom"

321
00:28:08,740 --> 00:28:13,934
Now, please help to sow seeds of change by sharing this film far and wide.

322
00:28:13,934 --> 00:28:19,079
A film by: The Gaia Foundation & The Afrivan Biodiversity Network (ABN)

323
00:28:19,079 --> 00:28:20,716
In collaboration with:

324
00:28:20,716 --> 00:28:25,421
MELCA Ethiopia, GRAIN International & Navdanya International

325
00:28:25,606 --> 00:28:29,047
Special Thanks to:

326
00:28:29,047 --> 00:28:38,058
Dr Melaku Worrede, Dr Vandana Shiva, Coraline Lucas MO, Zac Goldsmith MP, John Vidal, Ramon Herrera, Henk Hobbelink, Liz Hosken, Kumi Naidoo, Percy Schmeiser, Gathuru Mburu, Mpatheleni Makaulule, The Gaia Foundation Team, Florina Tudose, Jason Taylor and the Source Project

327
00:28:38,089 --> 00:28:43,248
And special thanks to the farming communities who are reviving their seed diversity and traditions to enchance biodiversity and food sovereignty

328
00:28:43,248 --> 00:28:51,111
the communities of Wollo in Ethiopia, and particularly Mahammed and Ayalnesh, Chef Vhutanda of Venda South Africa, Norman form Karima in Kenya, Joseph from Kivaa in Kenya, Agnes from Kivaa in Kenya.

329
00:28:51,111 --> 00:28:52,584
Thanks to the support from:

330
00:28:52,615 --> 00:28:57,821
The Roddick Foundation,The Christensen Fund, The Swift Foundation, Swedbio, Norad

331
00:28:57,821 --> 00:28:58,866
Archive Material:

332
00:28:58,866 --> 00:29:04,381
Greenpeace International, Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), Friends of The Earth International, Prelinger Archive

333
00:29:04,381 --> 00:29:09,516
Camera: Jess Phillimore, Jason Taylor, Damian Prestidge

334
00:29:09,516 --> 00:29:14,328
Additional camera:Richard Decaillet, Joshua Baker, Jose Maria Noriega

335
00:29:14,328 --> 00:29:19,417
Graphic Design: Camila Cardenosa

336
00:29:19,417 --> 00:29:24,357
Sound Design: Jay Harris

337
00:29:24,357 --> 00:29:28,552
A film by:Jess Phillimore

338
00:29:29,312 --> 00:29:33,202
Jose Lutzenberger: 1926-2002

339
00:29:34,018 --> 00:29:42,153
It is ten years since Jose Lutzenberger, fondly known as the father of the Brazilian enviromental movement, passed away.

340
00:29:42,153 --> 00:29:52,161
We dedicate this film to the uneding determination and passion to demonstrate how social justice and ecological sanity are two sides of the same coin.

341
00:29:55,269 --> 00:30:02,494
" A healthy cililization can only be one that harmonizes and integrates into the totality of life enhancing not demolishing it"

342
00:30:02,494 --> 00:30:06,906
Jose Lutzenberger

343
00:30:06,906 --> 00:30:13,000
2012