Liveseeding
The LiveSeeding is a 4-year Innovation Action funded by the European Union through the Horizon programme.
The programme objective is to foster the growth of the organic sector and transition towards more sustainable local food systems by delivering high-quality organic seeds of diverse cultivars adjusted to organic farming for a wide range of crops.
Project description
LiveSeeding is a 4-year Innovation Action on organic seed and plant breeding to accelerate sustainable and diverse food systems in Europe, which started in October 2022. LiveSeeding provides science-based evidence and best practice solutions to help achieve 100 % organic seed. The project has a budget of 6.6 million Euro, funded by the European Union, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). To deliver on such an ambitious goal, LiveSeeding brings together 37 organisations from a wide range of sectors operating in 16 European countries.
LiveSeeding contributes to the transition towards environmentally-friendly, climate-neutral, healthy and fair food systems through a PUSH-PULL-ENABLE strategy to:
- Enhance the availability and adequacy of organic seeds of cultivars appropriate to organic farming (PUSH),
- Increase and stabilise the market demand for organic seeds of cultivars appropriate to organic farming (PULL),
- Foster an enabling policy and regulatory environment where both demand and supply can harmoniously and productively negotiate without irrelevant constraints due to legal restrictions and/or regulatory fragmentation (ENABLE).
Actors involved
LiveSeeding works with a holistic multi-actor, multi-stakeholder, participatory approach involving stakeholders along the value chain in:
- 17 local Living Labs (LLs), where innovation will be co-generated involving the whole value chain, from breeders to consumers and citizens;
- 3 established networks of: organic breeders (ECO-PB), seed savers (ECLLD), and Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP).
15 focus crops will be used within LivingLabs in breeding, cultivar testing and seed production, namely: 4 cereals (wheat, rice, oat, maize) and 1 pseudo-cereal (buck-wheat), 1 oilseed crop (sunflower), 4 grain legumes (broad bean, lupin, beans and soybean), 4 vegetables (pepper, carrot, tomato and brassica) and 1 fodder (alfalfa).
These activities take place in 15 European countries covering different pedoclimatic zones and socio-economic contexts, including countries with a low level of development in organic seed and breeding in Eastern and Southern Europe.
EC-LLD! Involvement
Let’s Liberate Diversity! is involved in several tasks, among them the organisation of train of trainers on capacity building, a series of online trainings to stimulate transparency, knowledge exchange and harmonisation of implementation of the organic regulation across EU countries, and the dissemination of results through events, including part of the LLD Forum in Ireland!
To learn more about the project please visit Liveseeding website www.liveseeding.eu
