Because a white man in a suit can not stroll into the markets of Indonesia and say “you should give me your regional seed that your family has been growing forever and buy my seed every year”, he would be run out of town. Instead the bio-genetic companies try to play a hero role. They offer young students in the area a free ride to American universities, in exchange those students must work for the company for two years. Sounds like a dream to the students, a full ride and a high paying job waiting for them when they graduate. Upon graduating the individuals will return to their home town as a local but now working for the bio-genetic seed company. They will use several of the success plants that the companies have produces like strains of broccoli that will grow in high temperatures to persuade the community to buy the seeds. They will say “Grandma, look at how well my seeds are growing, how great and uniform my corn is, you should buy my companies seed”. These individuals also collect the local strains of vegetables and fruits to bring to the labs of the bio-genetic seed companies so they can eventually patent a hybrid of the strains.
What is at stake is the independence of all people and the cycle of seed to seed life that has existed FOREVER.
