From the Examiner: patents being used for fascist controls on farmer (h/t Geoff Plauche). For related posts, see

• The Main Problem With Patented GM Food Is The Patent, Not The Fact That It’s GM
• Monsanto wins lawsuit against Indiana soybean farmer
• Farmers and Seed Distributors Defend Right to Protect Themselves From Monsanto Patents
• The Evil of Patenting Food and Seeds

H.R. 193 would force farmers to pay a fee on saved seeds and register them

Farmers around the country Fridayexpressed frustration after learning about House Resolution 193. H.R. 193 would require farmers to register their seeds with the Secretary of Agriculture after a harvest. The farmers would then have to pay a fee for retaining those seeds. However, H.R. 193 is not that simple.

Farmers who purchase and grow patented seeds are the ones who would have to register their seeds after a harvest. A patented seed is a seed that is the product of human intervention and has been claimed as intellectual property. Although it may seem like a recent trend, Louis Pasteur made the first patent on a living organism in 1873. Pasteur patented yeast. Most patents in question, however, are patents by the company Monsanto on their genetically engineered seeds.

H.R. 193 would change things for farmers who purchase patented seeds and then grow those seeds. After the harvest, many farmers save the seeds that they can, seeds produced from the product they already paid for. H.R. 193 would force those farmers who save their seeds to register those seeds with the Secretary of Agriculture. After they register those seeds, the farmers would then have to pay fees set aside by the Secretary of Agriculture for keeping the seeds, “and for other purposes”.

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