Vandana Shiva was an early opponent of India’s “green revolution”: she criticised the commercialisation of agriculture with its disease-prone monocultures and hybrid plants. Seed, once perceived as a “free public resource”, has been transformed into a commodity over which small-scale farmers no longer have any control.

Indeed, multinational companies are now patenting seeds.Shiva has fought this trend for many years.

Shiva’s key goals are to maintain the free availability of indigenous seeds in Indian village communities and to promote chemical-free cultivation. As she sees it, farming must be communal: she rejects the role of multinational companies as proprietors of agriculture.

Dr Vandana Shiva has received multiple accolades for her activism in the areas of environmental protection, biological diversity, women’s rights and sustainability. In 1993, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award.