A recent initiative from the Red de Municipios por la Agroecología (RMAe) offers a strong example!
In the context of the ongoing trilogue on the future EU Regulation on Plant Reproductive Material, the Spanish municipal network has sent a letter to the European institutions arguing that cultivated biodiversity and local seed systems are not abstract concerns: they are already part of concrete local food policies, and the new regulation should create conditions that support this work.
In its letter, RMAe stresses that municipalities are key actors in this debate and connects the seed policy debate with the role of municipalities in building sustainable, healthy and resilient local food systems, reinforcing the concept that seed diversity is not limited to the agricultural or breeding sphere alone, but is also linked to governance, territorial food strategies, public action and community-based initiatives.
RMAe’s proposal is grounded in the broader work developed around the 1st European Symposium “Fostering Cultivated Biodiversity through Local Food Policies”, held in Granollers on 29–30 April 2025, and in the resulting Granollers Manifesto. That process advanced a shared vision for European municipalities:
By 2050 all European municipalities will have a food policy that prioritises city-region based agri-food systems that delivers healthy and tasty food relying on cultivated biodiversity and locally adapted seeds using natural resources within the planetary boundaries while ensuring economically viable livelihoods to its communities and people.
The Granollers Manifesto positions cultivated biodiversity as a key lever for sustainable and healthy local food systems, and calls for action at municipal, regional, national and European levels. It includes 32 strategic actions for municipalities and a set of broader legislative, policy and financial demands to create long-term enabling conditions.
The letter also draws on evidence and examples compiled through the Horizon Europe LiveSeeding project, including the Manual on the Integration of Cultivated Biodiversity in Local Organic and Agroecology-oriented Food Policies. This paper documents how municipalities across Europe are already taking action to support cultivated biodiversity in practice. The examples highlighted in the letter range from community seed banks and support to local seed entrepreneurship, to participatory breeding, farmers’ markets, food processing initiatives and public food procurement linked to local and diverse varieties.
On this basis, RMAe calls on the trilogue negotiators to ensure that the future PRM Regulation provides a framework that protects and enables local seed systems, dynamic conservation, farmer-managed seed practices and community-based initiatives.
For EC-LLD, this is an important example of how cultivated biodiversity can be advanced through alliances between municipalities, civil society, researchers and local food system actors. It also shows the value of connecting European seed policy debates with territorial practice and local public policy.
