Why Vandana Shiva is urging Canadian farmers to take a stand

Environmentalist and anti-globalization activist Vandana Shiva is calling on Canadians to embrace their inner Mahatma Gandhi in opposition to proposed agricultural legislation. Canada's Bill C-18 has been lauded as a way to better support innovative plant breeding. Brent speaks to Vandana about why she believes the bill should be fought with non-violent resistance. Also featured: Jan Slomp of the National Farmers Union and Kent Erickson of the Alberta Wheat Commission.

More about Bill C-18

Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz tabled Bill C-18, an omnibus bill known as the Agricultural Growth Act in December of last year.

The bill would allow companies that grow and sell seed to charge royalties from farmers who store seeds, as well as harvest and replant seeds.

The proposed changes are supported by the Canadian Seed Trade Association, which includes commercial agriculture giants like Monsanto and Syngenta.

Monsanto agribusiness greenhouses in St Louis, Missouri. photo: Brent Stirton/Getty Images

The bill would bring Canada into line with the international agriculture standards already followed by countries like the United States and United Kingdom.

Shiva, a world-renowned activist, adamantly opposes seed patents. Shiva is a philosopher, environmentalist, and author who writes about the corporate control of farming in her book Stolen Harvest. She has also acted as an adviser to governments in India and is the winner of numerous awards including the Calgary Peace Prize.

Shiva draws parallels between C-18 and the Salt Laws in India, which protected the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and insists that the legislation infringes upon the sovereignty of Canadian farmers.

Mahatma Gandhi, leading the Salt March in protest against the government monopoly on salt production. Photo: Getty Images

"A privilege used to be given by feudal lords, and in a way what we have is corporations replacing feudal lords, and then deciding what a farmer can do and cannot do. The first rights are those of the farmers."

She recently travelled to Calgary for Public Interest Alberta, to deliver a speech where she advocated for seed freedom in the wake of corporate globalization.

The National Farmers Union opposes the bill saying it increases costs for farmers. Others see a benefit from the proposed legislation.

Partners of Innovation, which includes the Alberta Wheat Commission, supports the bill. It argues that paying royalties ultimately increases the quality of the seeds available to farmers.

"Endpoint royalties are a mechanism for institutions to capture value," said Kent Erickson, Chair of the Alberta Wheat Commission, "Producers need to pay for technology and pay for plant breeding that's been going on."

The bill is in its second reading, as of March 3, 2014.

Click the link to listen to Vanada Shiva's interview with Brent on Day 6.