California Seed Sharing Bill Signed into Law

[castanea]

www.shareable.net/blog/california-seed-sharing-bill-signed-into-law

"Seed sharing in California took a major step forward on Friday when Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Seed Exchange Democracy Act, an amendment to the California Seed Law. It’s the latest victory in a global movement to support and protect seed sharing and saving.

AB 1810, which was introduced by Assemblymember Marc Levine, exempts non-commercial seed sharing activities from industrial labeling, testing, and permitting requirements. This means that local seed libraries and seed sharing activities aren’t held to the same cost-prohibitive testing required of big, commercial seed enterprises. The law allows seed sharing and saving to continue on a local level, which supports food security, urban agriculture, climate resilience, healthy eating, and a stronger local seed systems."

[prairiegarden]

It. Is SO NICE to hear of something positive that a government., any government, has done! Thank you for sharing, it's excellent news.Granted it should never have got to the point of needing to be made into law, but since it did, it's good to hear that some States are stepping up and doing what's needed.

[richardw]

Good news for all you fella's in California. This of coarse will set a positive stances for those not only in the rest of US states but for all other western countries also.

[philagardener]

Yes, finally the tide begins to turn!

[walt]

I am reminded of my time as vegetable breeder in the Rep. du Niger, 1978-1982.
In Niger, at that time, it was illegal to release hybrid varieties of grain crops, and I supose also illegal to release varieties of hybrid vegetable crops.
Sure, if you ordered some from out of coutry for yourself, no one bothered you about it.  The government had more important things to do.  But big multinational companies weren't welcome.  
Nigerien plant breeders were educated at universities in the USA, (one had been a classmate of mine in grad school at Kansas State U.), or in the USSR, or at 2-year college in India or neighboring African countries.  They knew very well how to breed hybrid varieties.  But they had paid attention in class when we were taught how to improve open-pollinated varieties, make synthetic varieties, yes, make land-races, etc.  CIMMYT had shown that open-pollinated synthetic varieties could yield 90% or more as much as the best hybrids.
Much of my work with vegetbles was to travel the country, collecting local vegetable varieties.  I'd take them back to the research station, grow them out in replicated trials, multiply the seeds of the best ones, and send them out again around the country.  Local growers would try them with their own local varieties, and keep whichever did best for them.
Part of the reason hybrids weren't wanted was that there was really no way to distribute new seeds to the farmers every year.  Camels could carry bags of seed to the scattered villages, where people could try them on a small scale and use them if they worked well.  If not, no harm done.
Another part of why they didn't allow hybrids was that farmers couldn't afford them anyway.  They could afford to risk buying a pound of sorghum or pearl millet or cowpeas, the main crops.  If they did well, good.  If not, not a big deal.

About what we were taught at KSU:  I remember Dr. Clayburg saying in class "Hybrid tomatoes are being sold based on the reputation of hybrid corn.  Hybrid tomato seeds aren't worth an extra penny".  But what did he know?  He was just a bean and tomato breeder.  
And the one entemology course I had, entry level, was taught by the department head.  First thing he told us was why he ws teaching an entry level course.  He said at the very least, 90% of the money spent on insecticides was wasted, and he gave 10 reasons.
1. Farmers and orchardists often sprayed by the calender, when there might not be any harmful insects present.
2. People spray when they see insects, not knowing if that kind of insect was harming the crop.
3. People spray at the time that insects are dormant, so they aren't killed.
4. People spray when the insects are doing damage, but not enough damage to make it worth the cost of spraying.
5. People spray, killing insects that are doing damage, but they kill predators so the target insects came back worse than ever.
There were 5 more reasons. But it was 30 years ago and I don't remember them.  I do remember what one student said as he left class.  "I don't know why we have to learn all this.  I just want to know how to kill insects."
Universities are often criticized because of the narrow-minded graduates they turn out.  Sometimes the fault lies with the students they take in.

[steev]

Oh, yeah! "I don't know why we have to learn all this. I just want to learn how to kill insects." They shoulda given that boy a hammer.

As a Zoology major at Cal, the most pleasurable classes I took were Classics 1A/1B, total micks (mickey-mouse), taught by the Department Head, the only Prof with enough cred to teach such pipes (lead-pipe cinches) without damage to his standing; every small, esoteric department had such classes because the department would be funded based on total enrollment, so this is how they catered to students looking for easy grade-points; classes were 500-700 students.

The lectures were slide-shows of Greek and Roman artifacts and antiquities, narrated by the Prof; I figured nothing of which we'd seen fewer than six slides would be on the finals and I was right; never having taken any notes, I aced the classes. It was a tour of the Classical World with a supremely gifted guide, and a hoot watching his dry, Scottish humor sailing over the heads of the frat-rats.

Universities are now much more selective of the students they admit: only those with the moolah.