Cycling Seeds: a journey of discovery into traditional seed management from Italy to Iran

Hi everyone, I am Eléonore Mahée, 28, from France.

I am currently doing a bike trip called Cycling Seeds, from Italy to Iran to learn more about traditional seeds and cultivated biodiversity.

After 5 months cycling on the roads of Italy, Albania, Greece, Turkey and Georgia, I wanted to share with you what I learned about the different ways traditional seeds are managed in these countries.

The type of players involved in the preservation of farmers’ seeds, the level of coordination (local, national, international networks) and the actions implemented vary from country to country.

Introduction: traditional seeds

I use the term traditional seeds in contrast to industrial seeds (the seeds produced by the seed industry) because it was the term mostly used with my interlocutors. I realise that the concept of farmers’ seeds or traditional seeds (terms I use as synonyms) is quite broad.
All my interlocutors want to contribute to the preservation of cultivated biodiversity and to build a sustainable agricultural and food system that adapts to the climate change we are already experiencing, and they ask for food sovereignty. Most of them consider that it is necessary to conserve “old” traditional seeds (with an interesting yield if possible, adapted to the local climate and resistant to diseases and pests) as well as to create new varieties (no GMOs or hybrids of course!).

I would like to point out that my vision is far from being exhaustive and that I will not go back over all the projects I met. It is possible that some people may wish to contradict some analyses or conclusions.

Local seed legislation and type of agriculture

The countries I cycled through follow the European regulations, either because they are members of the EU, or because the country has “copied” the European regulations!
All the players I met are pushing at European and national levels to obtain a specific legislation for traditional seed systems.
In the countries I visited, the majority of products that can be found on the market are made from industrial seeds. However, in really rural or mountainous territories, where farmers are outside the “conventional” and regulated distribution channels or where farmers are far from the industrial seed markets (e.g. farms in the mountains of northern Albania), they use traditional seeds. I was able to meet more “peasants” in Albania, Turkey and Georgia who use traditional seeds, with small diversified farms, processing directly to provide a large part of their food.

Diversity of the seed management actors met

I was able to discover and even meet a variety of players involved in the preservation of farmers’ seeds (production, selection, conservation in seed banks). Here is a non exhaustive list:

• Italy
  a national network (Rete Semi Rurali), local or thematic associations (Consorzio della Quarantina, Seed Vicious, AIAB Molise), researchers (Pietro Santamaria of the University of Bari), individual farms, municipalities (e.g. Ostuni with BioSolequo Coop);
• Albania
  no national network but a seed preservation initiative in northern Albania launched by the NGO Cospe Albania, led by agronomists from the Bushat Agricultural School and supported by the AICS Tirana-Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development: creation of a seed library and a network of organic farmers who grow them;
• Greece
  “national” networks: Peliti (also present in other countries), Sito Seeds, Aegilops (professional seeds producer for organic farmers), local associations (e.g. Sporites Rodopis in the Komotini region), individual farms;
• Turkey
  no national network (from what I understood), local associations (e.g EKODER, Biovacik), individual farms (e.g. Jade Farm), municipalities (i.e. Nilüfer, Izmir);
• Georgia
  a national NGO (Elkana) that produces and saves traditional seeds of cereals and legumes and shares them through its network of farmers, individual farms.

In conclusion, in the countries I visited, there is not always a national network, these are often initiatives of local organisations or even individuals, more or less coordinated.
I have identified few seed producers selling peasant seeds in these countries. The majority of farmers or organizations I have met, are distributing traditional seeds for free (with shipping costs if sent by post), or are exchanging them.
It is often the passion for seeds of one or more individuals that is at the origin of the creation of traditional seed banks.

On the other hand, even if there is no national network, these local organisations are often in contact with international organisations (Via Campesina, Let’s Liberate Diversity, Nyéléni, No Patent on Seeds, Balkan Seed Network) or organisations from other countries.
In all cases, a large number of players (individual farmers, networks, researchers, municipalities, seed artisans, distributors, citizens, media…) are needed to preserve traditional seeds all over the world!
I found it interesting to note the involvement of municipalities and researchers, I will come back to these points later.

Banks of traditional seeds

In addition, there is always at least one national Seed Bank or national Gene Bank, but they do not necessarily preserve a large number of traditional varieties. Thus, they are not sufficient and the community/local seed banks are essential.
Their number and the rate of coverage of the territory varies from country to country: I feel like Italy, Greece and Georgia are more widely “covered” than Turkey or Albania.
National networks, or even more local actors, work directly with these national banks to identify or preserve traditional varieties. It is often much more difficult for them to work directly with their Ministry of Agriculture, even if they are aware of and can support the initiatives

Involvement of the local authorities in seed conservation

As governments and ministries are not yet sufficiently supportive, local authorities can also be active by supporting financially (salaries, equipment and/or infrastructure to produce, select or save seeds) or through communication and organisation of events.
For example, in Turkey, the municipality of Nilüfer (Bursa region) has developed its own agricultural and food policy and has a rather holistic approach to the subject. Regarding traditional seeds, they :

• provided a 0.5 ha plot of land in Ürünlu to grow more than 150 varieties of vegetables, cereals and legumes and produce the associated seeds;
• built on this land a seed library which now conserves more than 700 varieties;
• welcome and raise awareness among students and citizens;
• organise free seed distributions during an annual festival;
• are even one of the 12 municipalities of the European FUSILLI project for the transformation towards sustainable urban food systems.

The EKODER association, whose president Arca Atay is an agricultural advisor to the municipality, is providing support on these topics.

There is now a network of about 15 Turkish municipalities (Izmir, Istanbul, Cannakale, Edirne, etc.) that follow their model by producing, conserving and distributing traditional varieties.

In Italy (Puglia), the municipality of Ostuni has provided two agricultural areas to Bio Solequo Coop to grow traditional varieties. One garden is located in the heart of the city, which allows awareness-raising events for schools and citizens.

Involvement of the research community

The research community can also be a player, as in the BiodiverSO Project led by Pietro Santamaria of the University of Bari (Puglia), who collaborated with many farmers of Puglia to produce an almanac (in Italian) of all the local vegetable varieties of Puglia: 240 local and traditional varieties were identified and preserved.

I found interesting to create links with the research community to study, identify, record and conserve traditional seeds, while making mention of all the farmers without whom this conservation would not take place.
Besides, the researchers can be on of the relays to convince governments to change the laws.

Strategies to collect, distribute, conserve and take inventory of seed

Collection/distribution/saving strategies vary.
Some only distribute (for free) to farmers and individuals at events or by post, some others do exchanges, some others ask farmers to send back a part of the “new generation” of seeds in order to keep them in their banks (e.g. 1kg of cereal seeds given by the Georgian NGO Elkana to the farmer, 1.5kg of the following harvest sent back to the NGO).
The levels of control of returned seeds seemed to me to be more or less strict. In most cases, if there is any doubt about a variety, it is first grown before being redistributed.
All the people I have met agree that it is essential to grow traditional seeds “in the field”.
Creating catalogues to list seeds can also be interesting. Some of the catalogues are even available on the internet, such as the almanac of vegetable varieties of Puglia, the catalogue of the Greek network Sito Seeds, or the one of the Georgian network Elkana.

Insights from the field on traditional management of seed

All the actors I met shared with me some complementary insights on how to accelerate the conservation of traditional seeds and cultivated biodiversity:

• Each year conserve only a small proportion of traditional seeds at seed banks and have the majority of seeds grown by farmers (“in the field”).
• Raise awareness and support farmers and citizens/consumers:
  • Farmers are often unaware of the wealth of old varieties present on their territory, the treasure they represent and their importance (e.g. genetic memory to resist to climate change). They often show a strong interest, but traditional seeds often have a lower yield than industrial seeds, which is an obstacle for many farmers to cultivate them for business purpose in all the countries visited. In Turkey, it is interesting to note that a large number of farmers use “certified” industrial varieties to market their products but use traditional varieties for their own consumption!
  • Organise convivial events (awareness-raising on the importance of biodiversity, tastings to convince by taste, free distribution of seeds, …) during the Seed Festival or on markets and fairs, in schools, in company restaurants, to make consumers and farmers exchange, and talk about it in the media.
  • The interest of citizens is growing for various reasons: freedom and self-sufficiency (especially since COVID and with the economic crisis), health, taste, etc.
  • Produce easily accessible content (video, writings, posts on facebook groups like Sito Seeds or Peliti do) and organize physical or online events to raise awareness, empower people to grow and save traditional seeds.
• Distribute for free or exchange traditional seeds to farmers and individuals, even on small events (everything matters!). Traditional seeds are nevertheless precious so it is relevant to distribute only a limited number of varieties per person and as much as possible only to those who will really cultivate them because the aim is to reach as many people as possible.
• Improve the economic value of products from traditional seeds:
  • It is important to produce varieties that taste good to consumers and with a yield sufficiently high for farmers (or even to develop new varieties).
  • To help market them, the Consorzio della Quarantina has created a quality label for two traditional potato varieties.
  • Distribution and food processing actors also have a role to play by integrating products grown from traditional seeds in their product catalogue or recipes (e.g. the municipality of Nilüfer with its NILKOOP cooperative, its sales outlets ‘Nilüfer Bostan’, or with its “small producers” markets where farmers do not have to pay taxes)
  • Citizens can also support farmers through Community Supported Agriculture – CSA groups (e.g. in France the AMAP, in Turkey the SAKÜDA group of which Jade Farm is a member)
  • Traditional varieties are not all intended to be on the market, there would be too many of them. Most farmers grow the majority of the varieties only to keep them from year to year.
• Work in networks, at local, national or even international level (e.g. via Let’s Liberate Diversity, the European FUSILLI project…). Thus the existence of a national network that coordinates traditional seeds conservation is often a strength, even if it must leave freedom and autonomy to local actors.

Get in touch

I blog about Project Cycling Seeds at https://cyclingseeds.wordpress.com/.

If you wish to leave comments or share suggestions or questions with me, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you and maybe see you soon, Eléonore.