European Organisation of Agricultural, Rural and Forestry Contractors
Boulevard Anspachlaan 111 b13 - B-1000 Brussels +32 (0)2 274 22 06 - ceettar@ceettar.eu
07.05.2014
Despite the recurrent attempts by the plant breeders and the multinational biotech companies against the freedom of choice of farmers and the biodiversity of seeds, mobile seed processors from Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Italy and United Kingdom stressed, during the fourth general meeting of EMSA, their European representative organization, the need to ensure that the farm saved seed should remain at the heart of the European agricultural model. They also recalled the importance of the mobile seed processors’ contribution for the fruitful coexistence of farm saved seeds and certified seeds for the benefit of agricultural production in the EU.
"While the attention of the European Union is mostly reported on legal issues related to the certification and the patenting of seeds, the economic significance of the farm saved seed in the European agriculture is too often overlooked. In Europe, the farm saved seed is predominant: more than half of the 57 million hectares of cereals are produced with self-produced seeds. In a seed market of approximately 1.5 billion Euros, farm saved seed represent one third of the value, or 500 million Euros" underlined Nigel Day, President of EMSA.
“This year’s presence of mobile seed machinery constructors at our meeting shows the professional service our processors carry out every day and the perspectives for development of farm saved seeds in Europe” said Sylvain Ducroquet, vice-president of EMSA.?This why the sector, made of hundreds of companies providing thousands of highly skilled jobs in the rural areas, seeks to ensure the implementation of the new guidelines of the Common Agricultural Policy concerning competitiveness and the sustainability of the European agriculture. The Commission fosters the development of innovation, but de facto overlooks the balance between technical innovations and agricultural reality. In this context, the Commission tends to impose a single type of production and standardized methods, to the unique benefit of plant breeders and biotech companies.
"All the experienced professionals of the agricultural sector have to be heard. It is also time to ensure that the EU policies really tries to put the European agriculture on the way of improved sustainability and competitiveness. That’s the message EMSA will continue to spread towards the Commission during the coming months and from June onwards towards the Members of European Parliament elected on 25 May" concluded Nigel Day.