The Seed Sovereignty Programme

Background

The Seed Sovereignty Programme is an ambitious 3-year venture to develop a resilient, agroecological seed system across the UK and Ireland. The Gaia Foundation is working closely with actors across the existing seed movement - including the Soil Association, the Organic Research Centre, the Irish Seed Savers Association, the Seed Cooperative and the Landworkers Alliance - and supporting new and emerging projects across the diverse landscapes of the British Isles. This is the first large-scale collaborative effort of its kind in the UK and Ireland. 

With genetic and agro-biodiversity as its central focus, the programme is underpinned by the principles of seed and food sovereignty - the right to locally adapted seed, available to all.  The programme will support the broad range of agro-ecological farming operations that exist, incorporating all seed grown within these systems. It will encourage skill sharing, networking and collaboration across the UK seed movement, creating a more cohesive and connected counter force to the pressures of industrial agriculture, and the uncertainty ahead as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.  

Read more on     Background and Canadian origins

                         Development in the UK and Ireland 

Seed Sovereignty
            website  https://www.seedsovereignty.info/

         Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Scotseedsov/ 

email updates from Maria Scholten, Scottish cordinator         maria@gaianet.org

SEED SOVEREIGNTY PROGRAMME IN SCOTLAND
E-NEWS NO 6       January  2019

The Palestine Seed Library and other seed news 

To start 2019 with inspiring highlights from the Oxford Real Farming Conference, here is the video about Vivien Sansour, “The Seed Queen of Palestine” https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2018/12/seed-queen-palestine-181209110212131.html (with thanks to Maggie for pointing me at the link).   Vivien gave a brilliant talk about the Palestine Seed Library and expressed a wish to swap seeds internationally.

Maria.
maria@gaianet.org