Seeds of Growth international meeting and Semínkovna 2026 conference, Prague, October 2026
This slide presentation analyses the new EU seed marketing Regulation from the perspective of community seed banks, seed libraries and small-scale seed producers. It explains that the Regulation replaces fragmented directives with a unified framework and for the first time creates specific legal recognition for conservation organisations/networks, conservation varieties and locally adapted varieties. The slides outline opportunities — explicit allowance for farmer-to-farmer exchange (with limits), lighter rules for sales to non-professional users, and the ability to register and market heterogeneous, conservation and locally adapted varieties without DUS testing — alongside significant constraints: species exclusions (e.g. potato, vine, citrus, poppy, hemp), in-kind-only farmer exchanges, extensive traceability and six-year record-keeping obligations for professional operators, and continued administrative burdens. Conservation organisations gain derogations (no certification, internal registers allowed, specific labelling) but must be non-profit and market without profit. The presentation highlights the upcoming role of delegated and implementing acts in defining technical rules, the importance of national implementation, and describes coalition mobilisation across Europe that influenced the outcome.
Key topics: EU seed marketing, conservation varieties, conservation networks, farmers’ seed exchange, non-professional users, traceability, administrative burden
