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24 DePaul J. Art Tech. & Intell. Prop. L 95 (2013-2014)
Seed Savers v. Monsanto: Farmers Need a Victory for Wilting Biodiversity

handle is hein.journals/dael24 and id is 107 raw text is: SEED SAVERS V. MONSANTO: FARMERS NEED A VICTORY FOR WILTING BIODIVERSITY It is miserable for a farmer to be obliged to buy his Seeds; to exchange Seeds may, in some cases, be useful; but to buy them after the first year is disreputable, George Washington.' I. INTRODUCTION Corn, rice, wheat, and soybeans make up 75% of calories consumed by the world's population.! These crops were derived from wild varieties that are in danger of extinction. The world's food supply is hanging on by a delicate thread of remaining genetic resistance. Increasing genetic uniformity of these crops could lead to a world food crisis. One disease strain or type of pest could severely devastate a large population of any of those four crops. Without genetic diversity, resistance may be impossible to locate, and 75% of the world's food supply would not recover. At the same time, farmers are increasingly losing sovereignty over their own seeds. Because of utility patent protection on seeds of major crops, such as soybeans, farmers are restricted from saving genetically engineered (GE) seeds.4 Without farmers saving seeds, agriculture is steadily losing a source of genetic diversity that it cannot afford to lose. 1. CTR. FOR FOOD SAFETY & SAVE OUR SEEDS, SEED GIANTS V. U.S. FARMERS 2 (2013) (citing Letter from George Washington to William Pearce, Farm Manager (Nov. 16, 1794)). 2. Sara Reardon, Climate Change Already Hurting Agriculture, SCIENCE Now (May 5, 2011, 4:01 AM), http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/05/climate-change-already- hurting.html. 3. CTR. FOR FOOD SAFETY & SAVE OUR SEEDS supra note 1, at 20. 4. As used in this paper, the term genetically engineered seeds refers to seeds with inserted genetic seeds. Other terms, such as genetically modified seeds and transgenic seeds, are used in the same manner and are used interchangeably throughout this paper. Seeds without GE traits are commonly referred to as conventional seeds. 95

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