Seed production in the U.K.

Seeds are the foundation of British farming. The European Union is active putting together legislation which will tighten the regulations on the development, sale or trading of seeds.
The E.U. wants to prevent seeds from being sold or given to anyone in the E.U. if the seeds are not registered on a E.U. list, where they are correctly identified in order to protect buyers and sellers.
Opponents of this plan claim that this legislation by the E.U. will mostly benefit multinational seed companies who will have less competition from the smaller end of the market. Since licensing seeds is so expensive(costing thousands of euro for each variety of seed), there is a big chance that many varieties of seeds, with potential answers to problems such as diseases and pests will disappear.


Opinion:

I think that such strict regulations from the E.U. regarding the sale, trade and development of seeds can have tragic consequences. A most important problem seems to be the consequences for the eco-system, since old varieties of potentially valuable seeds could disappear as a result of the high costs and complicated procedures involved in registering seeds. The wisdom of traditional farming will be undermined for the sake of uniformity, sterility and profit.