The Soil Association's, Save our Seeds campaign, was highlighted by the charity's head of horticulture who recently spoke at the Edible Garden Show.
Ben Raskin, right, spoke about the growing threat to our seed diversity and the importance of saving seeds, with attendees hearing the latest campaign updates.
"We believe that the control and supply of plant varieties should not lie in the hands of a few large companies," said Ben Raskin.
"We want to see a set of flexible, proportionate rules that exempt home gardeners and small commercial growers from the demands placed on major agricultural food producers, and that encourage biodiversity and conservation of heritage and unusual seed varieties with little regulatory burden.”
During the session Ben also spoke about an innovative research project, a field lab running as part of the Soil Association’s Duchy Originals Future Farming Programme, funded by the Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation.
The field lab is trialling open pollinated seed varieties in organic systems to create more demand for organic seeds. It’s also encouraging those taking part to save their seeds.
The Save our Seeds campaign was created in response to a proposed new regulation from the European Commission and the growing dominance of the big seed companies.
Just three multi-national corporations (Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta) control almost half of the world’s seed. And in the EU just five companies control a staggering 95%.
The new EU regulation could reduce the number of seed varieties available for growing – meaning we have fewer varieties of vegetables, fruit and crops to eat, damage to biodiversity and could potentially drive small seed merchants out of business.
Website: Soil Association - Save our Seeds
Comments