Community Seed Bank Labs – Workshop funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ project Seeds of Growth (Project ID: KA210-ADU-1727BE52)
Recorded 11 March 2026 · published on the EC-LLD YouTube channel on 3 September 2026 · 117 min · mostly Czech with English subtitles; some sections in English with Czech subtitles
Recording of a 117-minute online workshop (CSB Lab Workshop 1) in the Erasmus+ “Seeds of Growth” project, focused on how community seed banks (CSBs), seed libraries and seed networks operate in practice. Three practitioners present real-world examples: Klára Hrdá describes the Czech Semínkovna seed library network and distinctions between seed libraries and community seed banks; Tea Chitadze presents Elkana’s Seed Ark farm in Georgia, the recovery and multiplication of indigenous varieties, seed quality management and community outreach; and Borbála Lipka explains Magház, a distributed seed network in Hungary, including seed swaps, knowledge translation and cooperation with the national gene bank. The session draws on the project’s Capacity Gap Analysis (survey of 140 seed savers, seed librarians and CSB managers) and covers topics such as conservation-through-use, seed multiplication and quality control, community engagement, seed library vs seed bank roles, advocacy and implications of PRM regulation and gene bank exemptions. Slides and downloadable resources from each presenter and the Capacity Gap Analysis are provided in the video description. The workshop is mostly in Czech with English subtitles, and includes sections in English with Czech subtitles.
Slides and related resources
- Klára Hrdá, Semínkovna – slides
- Tea Chitadze, Elkana – slides
- Borbála Lipka, Magház – slides
- Seeds of Growth Capacity Gap Analysis
Key topics: community seed banks, seed libraries, seed networks, seed saving, agrobiodiversity, seed quality, PRM regulation, capacity gap analysis
