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"Growing Seed Savers": Baltic-Nordic Seed Savers' Education Innovation

Researcher: 
Guntra Aistara
Partner: 
Latvian Permaculture Association
Danish Seed Savers (DK)
Institute of Natural Agriculture (LT)
Maadjas (EE)
Duration: 
September, 2018 to April, 2020
Funding: 
Nordplus
On-farm biodiversity and associated knowledge are being lost in Europe due to industrialization of
agriculture, climate change, and restrictive seed legislation that can hinder seed exchange practices.
This knowledge and seeds are crucial for building diversified local food systems resilient to large scale
environmental and socio-economic change. The best way to preserve this agrobiodiversity is through
cultivation, circulation, and use.
The project aims to:
1. Generate and disseminate information about seeds as biological and cultural heritage and facilitate
seed-saving among Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, and Danish adult organic farmers and gardeners;
2. Raise awareness about relationships between seed legislation and climate change, food security, and
food sovereignty as part of democratic participatory citizenship, and explain variations in seed legislation
all four countries;
3. Share knowledge among organizations from Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia in order to
develop training methods and materials for formal, informal, and nonformal learning about seed-saving,
collection, management, and use in local seed networks.
This project will connect Danish seed savers who have decades of experience in sharing practical
information and skills about agrobiodiversity and seed-saving practices with Baltic seed-savers who
are just starting. It will train trainers in the Baltic countries to disseminate the knowledge further, involve
farmers, gardeners, chefs, and consumers in the collection, management, and sustainable use of
heritage seed varieties. It will empower participating civic organizations to sustainably manage local seed
libraries and engage in discussions about European seed legislation reform.