Joining UPOV 91 is an old wish of transnational seed companies such as Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, Corteva or Basf and national companies such as Bioceres or Don Mario.
The state government presented its draft on December 27th “Omnibus law” In its 664 articles number 241 stipulates Argentina's accession “to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (1991)”.
For years, this handful of corporations, through their organizations, have been trying unsuccessfully to change the current Seed Law (No. 20,247 of 1973), which recognizes intellectual property rights (“breeders' rights”) for companies, but also guarantees the rights of farmers to produce the fruits of their harvest with certified seeds. These attempts were systematically rejected by a wide range of producer and civil society organizations.
What does joining UPOV mean?
Accession to UPOV 91 means deepening the entrepreneurial integration of the first link of any agri-food chain through the recognition of broader intellectual property rights over seeds, thereby abolishing the rights of producers since, among other things, it limits the possibility of doing so Own use” extends the “protection” to the harvest and enables the patenting of seeds.
The country's inclusion in an international agreement such as UPOV means that the current seed law must be amended to adapt to its provisions, as is the case with countries that have signed free trade agreements.. So, A discussion that has been going on for more than a decade in parliament without consensus is to be decided “from above”, without a concrete debate, within the framework of the explicit treatment of an “omnibus law” and in extraordinary meetings.
What is at stake in Article 241 is transcendental: whoever controls the seeds controls the agricultural and food chain and therefore the availability, quality and price of food for our population. Against this background, the signatory organizations demand that the National Congress reject accession to UPOV 91 to protect the food sovereignty of our people.
Sign the petition here