Under Threat

Corn Resistance

You Can Offer Sanctuary to Zapatista Corn!

http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/english/store/catalog/zapatista-corn-seed.html

Sow these seeds of resistance and join the growing movement against transgenic contamination of Mayan corn in Chiapas, Mexico!  Or send packages of corn to all your friends as holiday gifts.

By planting Zapatista corn, you become a part of a global effort to preserve a vital genetic heritage that has evolved over thousands of years.  Great for making tortillas!  You can plant this powerful Zapatista seed corn in your community, farm, home, school, or family gardens.   We urge you to invite your friends and family to collectively prepare the soil, to come together to plant the Zapatista seed, and perhaps you all can organize a larger sanctuary harvest party in the fall to eat great corn and celebrate our resistances!  Click Mother Seeds in Resistance Project to learn more about Zapatista efforts to stop GMO's. 

These seeds have been donated by Zapatista farmers who hope and pray that people of conscience around the world will provide respectful sanctuary for this living part of their cultural heritage. 

Order Your Zapatista seed corn today!  Each package contains approximately 60 powerful seeds – germination rates are very high and detailed growing instructions are printed on each seed package.  You’ll need about 180 square feet of land per package of seed.

All seed corn provided by Mother Seeds in Resistance is FREE.  A suggested donation of $7 to $13(or more) per package of seed will be accepted to purchase GMO field testing kits ($7 each) to continue Zapatista efforts to make Chiapas a GE/GMO Free Zone.

Heritage seed-stocks of land race indigenous corn in Mexico are being infected by genetically-engineered corn imported by multinational companies from the United States under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  The magnitude of this horror (it is far more than a problem) for indigenous people is hard to explain to outsiders. Click here for some information on the potential threats to our planet and to our health associated with gmo contamination.

According to a Tzotzil Maya elder from Chiapas: "During the last five centuries while our people have withstood suffering - enormous sufferings- our corn has allowed us to survive.  Now our corn is suffering and we must give back to the corn what it has given us . . . we must help the corn withstand its suffering from the transgenic infections brought on by the greed of the transnational corporations and the bad governments.  That way corn, and the people of the corn, will both be able to survive together."

Farmers and indigenous officials have urged Schools for Chiapas to let the world know that they are struggling to maintain a GMO-free zone and everyone in the world who is resisting genetically modified crops can always rely on the Zapatistas for support.  The Schools for Chiapas project Mother Seeds in Resistance is a community-based and directed effort to save the natural or mother corns of the indigenous Maya peoples of Chiapas, Mexico, and to advocate for community-based sustainable agriculture, while raising awareness about the dangers of the North America Free Trade Agreement to heritage seeds and small farmers in both the U.S. and Mexico.

Schools for Chiapas is working with community leaders in Chiapas, Mexico to design a program to identify and eradicate any GMO contamination from the Zapatista communities - a first for the world.  Schools for Chiapas is also raising funds for GMO test kits and for training to implement this statewide program to protect the Mayan heritage corn.  In addition, a community controlled long-term seed storage facility has been built  in the highlands of Chiapas.  Click here to read a presentation made by indigenous promoters about Mother Seeds in Resistance.

In cooperation with the autonomous, indigenous communities, Schools for Chiapas is also sending corn around the world as part of a solidarity grow-out to protect and promote the Mayan corn and their mission to protect it. Currently Zapatista corn is growing in hundreds of countries on 5 continents.  In the spirit of farmers everywhere, the Zapatistas are giving their corn seed away free to interested growers.  You will however be asked to sign a pledge to never allow this seed to be patented or used commercially and we would ask that you donate at least the price of one GMO test kit ($6.50) to help pay back the communities for their generous gift!