Major conventional farm associations and Brazil's Agricultural Research Corporation have agreed to strengthen their relationships and preserve the biodiversity of the country's crops.

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The Brazilian association of non-genetically modified grain producers Abrange, corn and soybean farmers' Association Aprosoja and the Ministry of Agriculture Research branch Embrapa, met last week to strengthen the Soja Livre Program (PSL).

The programme was established in 2009 in a bid to secure greater diversity for producers in Brazil. Conventional soybean growers wanted to ensure biological diversity of conventional cultivars was protected, to keep the market supplied with more alternative products, and react against the homogenising effects of Brazil becoming one of the world's GM powerhouses (in 2011, Brazil was the world's number two grower of genetically modified crops – during that year an estimated 30.3 million hectares were sown with GM crops).

Frederick Durães of Embrapa said the programme is necessary to ensure conventional (non-GM) cultivars are available for Brazil's farmers and trade partners in countries that do not accept imports of GM crops. 35 commercial cultivars from Embrapa are available that Durães said can be grown in almost all regions of Brazil.

Cesar Borges de Sousa, president of Abrange, said, "This alignment will make the program even more important than it already is, giving clear signs of togetherness to international buyers - especially German, Japanese and Chinese, who have lately come to look for new business and suppliers."

Brazilian soy production is worth an estimated US $40 billion each year (£25 bn). Widespread adoption of GM soybeans by Brazilian growers has impacted on conventional cultivation, but recent legal battles and the legislative decision expected this week on 'terminator seeds' by a Brazilian Constitutional Commission have put conventional growing back on the agenda. New labelling policies in the US, EU restrictions and changes in foods sought by other developing economies have also stimulated fresh demand for conventional crops from Brazil.

Even so, conventional soybean production still only accounts for 11 percent of production in Brazil as a whole, and 23 percent of producers in the State of Mato Grosso.

Conventional farm leaders at Abrange accused Brazilian legislators expected to pass a bill on terminator seeds of "upending [an] 8 year-old ban and violating the international moratorium on the quintessential anti-farmer technology" on Thursday. Silvia Ribeiro, Latin America Director for ETC Group, which promotes sustainable development to drive environmental conservation, ecological diversity, cultural sensitivity and human rights, said of the ruling, "It couldn't be more ironic that Brazil is today considering approving a bill that would legalize Terminator seeds. On World Food Day, Brazil is contemplating a flagrant attack on Food Sovereignty and Farmers' Rights, which will have an impact all over the world."

Terminator technology causes the second generation seeds of plants to be sterile. Agribusiness giant Monsanto and farmers in Brazil have been locked in legal battles in recent years over issues of seed saving and royalty payments. Although the legalisation of such seeds would resolve these issues once and for all in Monsanto's favour, the technology has been widely reviled as 'anti-farmer' and the UN Convention on Biodiversity recommended a de facto moratorium on field testing and sale of the seeds in 2000.

Civil society groups have pressured the UN Committee on World Food Security and Convention on Biological Diversity to condemn the bill and advise legislators against green lighting the controversial technology.