SEEDING EUROPE

"<< Background >>Through the organisation of different discussion forums and meetings on seed policy over the years, such as the different Let's Liberate Diversity events, all project partners have identified a significant gap in the knowledge of European policy-making processes among actors working to conserve the diversity of cultivated plants. This gap was particularly noticeable for small-scale organisations, such as seed saver organisations and farmer networks, which remained either silent or absent from policy discussions that impact their daily activities detrimentally. Seed diversity actors face numerous obstacles to conserve and use diverse seeds, but the main one remains the complex legal landscape and the lack of public support for their efforts. In order for them to be able to efficiently convey their problems and needs to policy-makers, they need to gain more knowledge, but also better trust themselves to engage in policy processes, which are generally perceived as a relatively closed bubble. By raising their awareness and knowledge of European seed policies and the procedures behind them, we wanted to enable them to talk to public authorities, raising their confidence levels to also take their deserved space in public debates.<< Objectives >>The project aimed to reinforce the capacity of associations and individuals working to conserve and increase seed diversity (e.g. small-scale farmers and seed savers) to understand and monitor the public policies that impact the conservation and use of seeds, and advocate for an enabling legislative environment both at European and national levels. Enhancing the awareness and understanding of policy issues within the seed diversity movement in Europe, the project wished to set the foundations for a coordinated debate between seed diversity actors, public institutions, and the public. To strengthen the knowledge base of the target groups on European institutions, policy-making processes, and technical aspects of European seed policy, we wanted to develop different opportunities, resources and long-lasting tools to navigate and better understand European laws and policies related to seeds. We also aimed to bring the Brussels policy-making ""bubble"" closer to seed diversity actors, showing them means to engage in the process as active citizens.<< Implementation >>We implemented all tasks foreseen in the project proposal: a kick-off meeting, four sets of Seed Policy labs with two modules each, a physical workshop in Brussels, the elaboration and design of the Guide to European Seed Policy in 4 languages, and the organisation or attendance of a total of 6 different dissemination events (in Budapest, Brussels, and Vienna/online targeting the wider ARCHE NOAH network).<< Results >>The project produced a considerable amount of material in different formats. All the presentations made during the four Seed Policy Labs, and the recordings of the events are available on the project website within the EC-LLD webpage (https://liberatediversity.org/seeding-europe-erasmus/) along with EPALE. The Guide to European Seed Policy, a 40 page document with numerous hyperlinks, is also available for downloads in these two platforms, in four different languages (English, German, French and Italian). Next to the production of these materials, the project gave numerous opportunities for a wide range of seed diversity actors from different European countires to meet and interact with one another, learning from each other, creating a wider community of support and advice, as well as raising confidence levels of participating individuals. The co-creation of the EU Guide to seed policy also helped the participants at the Brussels workshop to take better ownership of the document, and therefore more generally, of the topic of seed policy, becoming disseminators in their local communitites."