with R&D providers. Many now have websites that act as an information umbrella for and communication link to thousands of affiliated farmers' groups organized at local levels. Examples include the Network of Farmers' Organizations and Agricultural Producers from western Africa (http://www.roppa-ao.org); the International Land Coalition (www.landcoalition.org/partners/partact.htm); the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (www.ifap.org); and Peasants Worldwide (www.agroinfo .nl/scripts/website.asp).

     The focus on local mobilization masks the wide scale of effort and impact (Boven and Mordhashi, 2002). For example, in 2004 Catholic Relief Services was working directly with 120,000 poor producers in community-based seed

system development (www.crs.org) and South East Asian Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) (see 2.2.3). The local seeds movement pioneered by such organizations has given rise to information exchange networks that assert individual and community rights to "first publication" so as to safeguard native IPR and germplasm. Over time, such organizations have strengthened their own R&D networks by commissioning research and through organizing national and international technical conferences, such as the International Farmers' Technical Conference held in conjunction with the 2005 Convention on Biodiversity meeting.

     Farmer research partnerships typically bring together farmers, professors, scientists and researchers to compose a