September 25, 2009

Source: issue III/2009 of the Newsletter on Organic Seeds and Plant Breeding

On August 25 - 28, 2009, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) held the “Breeding Diversity” Conference in Santa Fe, NM, USA. Leading scientists, activists, farmers and breeders came together to share their latest findings and positions on organic breeding and agro-biodiversity conservation in order to find new ways to address the challenges of today and tomorrow.

In her conference opening speech the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, who is decorated with the alternative Nobel price, emphasized the importance of this IFOAM-conference within the context of the current development in animal and plant breeding. The ecologically oriented breeding and its contribution to biodiversity, the basis of our food and nutrition security, is threatened by the application of genetic engineering. This technique could not be qualified as breeding in its original sense. The ongoing loss of biodiversity meant an erosion of food and nutrition security, especially in times of climate changes and further ecological challenges. “This conference can contribute to both the preservation of biodiversity on our planet and to the protection of the means of existence of peasants in the whole world”, Vandana Shiva pointed out.

An important workshop topic – especially for the European participants – was the discussion of strategies to develop guidelines for excluding the use of CMS-hybrid varieties made by cell fusion techniques, which was decided at the IFOAM general assembly in Modena in 2008. The CMS-hybrids in question are a special form of hybrid plants, which result from protoplast or cytoplast fusion (CMS stands for cytoplasmic male steriliy); this technique is not compatible with organic principles as cell fusion falls under IFOAM’s definition of GMO. In April 2009 the ECO-PB und ITAB (Institut Technique de l’Agriculture Biologique) already held a conference on this topic in Paris, on which the European representatives of organic farming together with breeders involved with breeding for organic farming discussed strategies for the abandonment of such cultivars, report see www.eco-pb.org. At the conference in Santa Fe it now became clear that Europe is ahead of being aware of this issue and it remains unclear at which rate such CMS varieties are used in the USA,. Currently, the main concern of American organisation Organic Seed Alliance is focused on the law suits to prevent contamination of GMO with organic seed production. However, the strategies discussed in Europe for a phase-out of the use of “CMS-hybrids” was warmly greeted and supported by the American participants.

Another significant issue was the discussion of IFOAM plant breeding standards in the plenum during the conference. Prof. Edith Lammerts van Bueren, president of ECO-PB, opened the discussion by proposing a working document for organic plant breeding standards compiled by ECO-PB. The plenum appreciated the work of ECO-PB on this standards working document and found it an excellent basis to structure the discussion. As expected, there was a rather lively discussion with many valuable points to be considered in the redraft. In the coming step the working document is now redrafted and will be available for further comments and approval before submitting to the IFOAM standard making body for further consideration.

Website: http://www.eco-pb.org

Published: September 25, 2009