Press Release of DiverSeedPaths International Farmers’ Seeds Gathering

Cultivating diversity for resilient and inclusive communities

Press Release

Aiguillon, 21/10/2024

INTERNATIONAL FARMERS’ SEEDS GATHERING
“SOW YOUR RESISTANCE”

The international farmer seeds gathering Sow your resistance took place between the 30th of September and the 5th of October.

The first few days were dedicated to field trips on different farm in France and in Italy.
Then, on the 3rd of October, the 80 people involved in the farms trips met in Antibes, in the South of France, and were joined by more than 300 persons, from 60 different countries across five continents. Farmers, gardeners, researchers, citizen… all driven by the same interest in cultivated biodiversity.
It started with a presentation of every organization et country represented, giving a glimpse of the great diversity in the audience, followed by feedbacks from the ones that went on field trips and wanted to share their experiences.
Then, the firsts practical workshops took place making a direct link to what had been seen and done on fields trips. The day ended with a nice walk around the Fort Carré and a comforting meal was shared on the beach.

DiverseedPath event press release photos

Friday was the key moment of the event, embracing fully the theme: seeds and migrations.

It started with several workshops such as “Seeds as vectors of exchange in situations of exile”, “Migration of seed and democratization of knowledge”, “Gender and seeds, what contribution do women make to seed preservation” and many more. It also featured DiverSeedPaths’s workshop : “ Cooperation between cultivated biodiversity organizations and migrant communities.” This workshop was built by DiverSeedPaths partners and based on the two previous activities that took place in Greece. It focused on the practical aspects involved in welcoming refugees to farms or organizations: administrative issues, working and sharing in intercultural contexts, how to think about transmission without being in top-down relationships or falling into domination patterns, how to create inclusive and safe places, especially when most farms are already facing struggles. Several organizations were there to share their experience : Emmaüs le Maquis, Eko! Low-tech et réfugiés, Confédération Paysannes, in addition to the project’s partners : Aegilops, RSP and LLD. Then, participants (around 40 people) were ask to think about key factors that should be taken into account when welcoming refugees? Many ideas were shared and discussed : how to move away from the notion of help towards collaboration and mutual assistance, to ensuring access to rights and mobility, the language barriers and interculturality, to identify and emancipate from relationships of domination, becoming aware of one’s privileges, decolonization… Were also discussed matters related to agricultural context : the human trafficking that takes place on some farms, the precariousness of many farms, the availability and seasonality of farm labour, but also seeing the agriculture as a mean of sharing and connect etc. The speakers were then able to respond to points made, and share more examples related to their experience.