Seed solidarity - a year of progress

It’s now over a year since we launched our ‘Farmers, Food and Freedom’ report about UPOV91 seed law’s malign influence on smallholder farmers. The report exposed how UK trade rules are spreading these restrictive laws around the world – where farmers can be arrested and even imprisoned for sharing and saving seeds.

Over 20,000 of you stood up for seed freedom by signing our #StopUPOV petition to keep these harmful seed laws out of UK trade deals - an incredible show of people power. We took that message straight to the top, writing to Douglas Alexander, Minister for Trade Policy, to demand the removal of UPOV91 and making it clear the public does not support these restrictive rules. Thanks to your pressure, MPs have been raising the issue in Parliament.

While we push the UK Government to respect farmers’ rights in the UK-India trade deal, we’re also working with Pahadiya farmers in Jharkhand, India to support their community seed banks - which create jobs and promote local varieties of crops.

Over the last year, Pahadiya farmers have introduced a new millet seed to their seed banks and formed a Farmer Producer Company to advocate for better prices for their produce. This work could be at risk if UPOV91 were to be included in the UK-India trade deal. The great progress the farmers have made could be lost – so the fight to take UPOV91 out of this and any future trade deals goes on.