Following an initiative last March by the Traditional Native American 

Farmers' Association and others, Santa Fe County, NM has passed a 

landmark "Declaration of Seed Sovereignty," addressing GMO 

contamination in context of the specific threats it poses to 

indigenous agricultures.  More information is available at 

<http://www.7genfund.org/aff-tra-nat-ame.html>http://www.7genfund.org/aff-tra-nat-ame.html:





Whereas, our ability to grow food is the culmination of countless 

generations of sowing and harvesting seeds and those seeds are the 

continuation of an unbroken line from our ancestors to us and to our 

children and grandchildren.



Whereas, our ancestors developed a relationship with plants that 

allowed their cultivation for food and medicine and this has been a 

central element of our culture and our survival for millennia in 

regions throughout the world.



Whereas, the concurrent development of cultures of Eurasia, Africa, 

and the Americas resulted in a plethora of food and crop types 

including grains such as maize and wheat; legumes such as beans and 

lentils; fruits such as squash and chile; vegetables such as spinach 

and those of the cabbage family; and roots such as potatoes and turnips.



Whereas these foods and crops, though developed independently of each 

other, came together in New Mexico with the meeting of Spanish, 

Mexican, and Native American cultures to create a unique and diverse 

indigenous agricultural system and land-based culture.



Whereas, just as our families are attached to our homes, our seeds 

learn to thrive in their place of cultivation by developing a 

relationship with the soil, water, agricultural practices, 

ceremonies, and prayers; thereby giving seeds a sacred place in our 

families and communities.



Whereas, the way in which seeds become attached to a place makes them 

native seeds, also known as landraces, also makes them an important 

element of the generational memory of our communities.



Whereas the continued nurturing of native seeds or landraces has 

provided the basis for the community coming together for communal 

work such as cleaning acequias and preparing fields as well as in 

ceremony, prayers, and blessings; thereby binding our communities, 

traditions, and cultures together.



Whereas the practices embodied in working the land and water and 

caring for seeds provides the basis for our respectful connection to 

the Earth and with each other.



Whereas, our practices in caring for native seeds (landraces) and 

growing crops provide for much of our traditional diet and results in 

our ability to feed ourselves with healthy food that is culturally 

and spiritually significant.



Whereas, clean air, soil, water and landscapes have been essential 

elements in the development and nurturing of seeds as well as the 

harvesting of wild plants; and that these elements of air, land, and 

water have been contaminated to certain degrees.



Whereas corporate seed industries have created a technology that 

takes the genetic material from a foreign species and inserts it into 

a landrace and is known as Genetically Engineered (GE) or transgenic crops.



Whereas seed corporations patent the seeds, genetics, and/or the 

processes used in the manipulation of landraces, and have gone so far 

as to patent other wild plants or the properties contained in the plants.



Whereas GE crops have escaped into the environment with maize in 

Oaxaca, Mexico and canola in Canada and crossed into native seeds and 

wild plants.



Whereas organic farmers have been sued by seed corporations when 

these patented genetic strains have been identified in the farmers' 

crops, even though the farmers were unable to see or stop pollen from 

genetically engineered crops from blowing over the landscape and into 

their fields, thus contaminating the farmers' crops.



Whereas the effect of this technology on the environment or human 

health when consumed is not fully understood.



Whereas the seed industry refuses to label GE seeds and food products 

containing GE ingredients.



Whereas the pervasiveness of GE crops in our area cannot then be 

fully known due to the lack of labeling and therefore carries the 

potential for genetic pollution on our landraces.



Whereas countries such as Japan, England, and countries in Africa 

have refused genetically modified foods and prohibit the introduction 

of GE crops on their lands because of their unknown health effects.



Whereas indigenous cultures around the world are the originators, 

developers, and owners of the original genetic material used in the 

genetic modification of crops by corporations today.



Whereas this declaration must be a living, adaptable document that 

can be amended as needed in response to rapidly changing GE 

technology that brings about other potential assaults to seeds and our culture.





Now therefore be it resolved, that the Board of County Commissioners 

of Santa Fe County supports the following:



* The traditional farmers of Indo-Hispano and Native American 

ancestry of current-day northern New Mexico collectively and 

intentionally seek to continue the seed-saving traditions of our 

ancestors and maintain the landraces that are indigenous to the 

region of northern New Mexico.



* Seek to engage youth in the continuation of the traditions of 

growing traditional foods, sharing scarce water resources, sharing 

seeds, and celebrating our harvests.



* Reject the validity of corporations' ownership claims to crops and 

wild plants that belong to our cultural history and identity.



* Object to the seed industry's refusal to label seeds or products 

containing GE technology and ingredients and demand all genetically 

modified seeds and foods containing GE ingredients in the State of 

New Mexico to be labeled as such.



* Object to the cultivation of GE seeds in general but especially 

within range of our traditional agricultural systems that can lead to 

the contamination of our seeds, wild plants, traditional foods, and 

cultural property.



* We will work with each other, local, tribal, and state governments 

to create zones that will be free of genetically modified organisms 

(GMOs) and GE technology.



* We will also work together to address other environmental abuses 

that contaminate our air, soil and water quality that certainly 

affects our health, the health of our seeds and agriculture, and the 

health of future generations.



* We will work together with the traditional farmers representing 

various acequia, Pueblo, tribal and surrounding communities to 

create, support, and collaborate toward projects and programs focused 

on revitalization of food traditions, agriculture, and seed saving and sharing.



Passed, approved and adopted this 30th day of January, 2007

Board of County Commissioners



Virginia Vigil, Chair

Valerie Espinoza, Santa Fe County Clerk

Stephen C. Ross, Santa Fe County Attorney