Yes, the book I am reading, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has a brilliant chapter on seed patenting. Yes, I was aware of the suicides to do with seed patenting. Very sad.

Hmm. Do you think hunter-gatherer societies, or societies which have specialized since medieval times have lost the knowledge of growing food. For instance, many people in England are okay with growing flowers, but do not (and probably don’t know how to) grow food.
Perhaps it’s simplistic–or perhaps it’s not been tried. You know, giving people seeds and pots and good soil?
Just an idea… And outside my field of knowledge and experience!! 🙂

Every time I try to grow certain things, like zucchini, they get decimated by squash bugs — I don’t want to use pesticides. I go pick them off and drown them in soapy water, but I usually can’t keep up. I can grow other things successfully and organically, but not everything.

And how can a culture have developed that has lost the knowledge of growing food? What else is going on there? Is teaching gardening going to be like yet another other-initiated charitable process that won’t take root, because it’s not coming from within, or it’s not meshing with the existing culture?

It just sounds a bit like saying to those on welfare, “Oh, I just had a great idea — why don’t you go get a job?”