Let’s Liberate Diversity! News

Swedish agrobiodiversity activist Sivert Stiernebro has been conducting an educational campaign on the significance of seed diversity for farming and the impact of EU legislation on the availability of diverse seed.

Sivert is keen to take his message to a wider audience at this important junction in EU lawmaking, so he is looking for local activists to help him share it far and wide.

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A Bomb in the Vegetable Garden by S. Stiernebro – translated by Jules Baw

New Seed Laws on the Horizon

Brussels, July 2023. Outside the EU Parliament, climate activists and farmers with tractors are demonstrating on their separate streets. Inside the building, the parliament is voting on the Nature Restoration Law, which aims to reserve land for wild nature and biodiversity. Simultaneously, another draft law is being published regarding what should grow within the fields. Should there be biodiversity? Or only varieties sponsored by big industry be permitted?

EU’s List of Approved Seed Varieties

Stop for a moment between the store shelves. Who manufactured the products? Who packed them and affixed the labels? No one you’ve looked in the eye, so there are rules. A product should meet expectations. What is inside a seed packet should match what’s written on the outside.

When the internal market took shape, a common catalogue of varieties sold in the EU was established. You should be sure of what seed you’re buying. A variety must be distinct, uniform, and stable enough to be recognizable. All plants should be the same. There’s a seed variety owner who manages the original and gets paid for their work with the variety.

The year was 1972, and faith in industrial systems and global trade was at its peak. A variety registry fitted like a glove in this context, however in many countries authorities encountered a reality that didn’t quite align with their ideas. There are, amazingly, people who have their own gardens and grow for themselves or their community. These varieties are valued and in demand, despite the fact (or perhaps precisely because) they have adapted to local conditions— climate, soil, cultivation techniques, and taste preferences — to the extent that they can no longer be linked to a specific original. Perhaps there never was one. Traditional plant varieties are nobody’s property just like wild plants and animals (including us humans, despite historical attempts to divide us into races).

How have the regulations turned out? Sometimes, seeds outside the norm have been weeded out. Some have been forgotten, others rediscovered—just on time or too late. More and more people are growing grey peas again, while cauliflower resistant to certain types of mold is gone forever. Sometimes the law has been interpreted leniently or simply ignored. In Sweden, where I live and work, campaigns for the right to access and grow alternative varieties have contributed to facilitating their continued production. Different degrees of disobedience to the EU have occurred in several member states. Even state officials understand the absurdity of seeds that have been sold and sown for over a hundred years being banned for ‘administrative reasons’. Most recently, British varieties were erased from the EU’s list after Brexit.

Over time, criticisms have increasingly surfaced about the internal market not functioning properly because, in practice, different rules apply from country to country. The Commission has long endeavoured to address this issue through various efforts aimed at creating a standardization of rules, but has failed to gain support from the Parliament. Now, they have made a huge effort to gather feedback and reconcile widely differing interests through surveys and consultations, in which I have participated.

In the Halls of Power

Rosenbad (Swedish government offices) September 5, 2023. After mingling in the foyer, we take our seats in the conference room. Ingrid Karlsson from the Swedish Board of Agriculture explains what the new law would mean compared to the current one. I have studied it carefully but am still surprised. There are plans for more controls, funded by fees. The opportunities to sell seeds that are missing from the official variety list are far from obvious. It’s stated that exceptions should exist, but the protracted conflict over the fine print has been resolved by the Commission granting itself sovereign powers to interpret and enforce the laws. Who will they listen to then?

In the second hour of the meeting, each participant gets to speak. We are about 25 people, and the balance of power is akin to the lobbyists in Brussels; all but three come from universities and industry organizations with perspectives not quite like mine. One man complains that farmers would have to share their seed harvest with their neighbours. “I thought that belonged to the Middle Ages!” He fears an alternative seed trading system with less control and lost income for plant breeders. “The consequence will be poorer varieties!”

My turn. I swallow and realize the gravity of the moment. No one else will say what I feel must be said. Ever since the Middle Ages, the authorities have ruled with farmers and growers. After thirty years at Runåbergs Fröer (a small-scale organic seed company) I have experience of how the law perceives traditional varieties and methods as problematic or even illegal. It’s beautiful that society is beginning to recognize the value of cultivated diversity, that amateur gardeners and cultural heritage are mentioned, but for it to be more than just beautiful words, a different mindset is needed. I will endeavour to explain:

Small and Many – We are Necessary!

Living organisms are not like other goods. Screws and nails have specific measurements. Living things are in flux, as an adult is not like an infant, the plant does not resemble the seed. Through these gradual changes from one generation to the next, all the world’s different life forms have come into being. Through trial and error, they have gradually adapted to different circumstances. Agriculture and trade rely on these evolutionary techniques when selecting and using certain plants.

“Poorer varieties!” it was said; Poorer? Better? Who has the mandate to decide? This depends entirely on who is asked, where, and when. If some form of crisis arises—say, a pest suddenly becomes widespread—”the best” are no longer the best. What do we do then if the alternatives have become limited or forbidden? This is about survival, not just for individual vegetable varieties or individual seed companies but for the generations to come. The ability to feed ourselves in the future depends on how well we can preserve the biodiversity of the plants we cultivate. A handful of multinational companies guarding their interests is not enough. Nor are a handful of gene banks. Diversity diminishes due to inbreeding and genetic drift, just like in wild animals in isolated reserves. Sustainable living conditions are lacking. During the 20th century, 75% of the genetic variation of cultivated plants was lost. There’s a term for this insidious process: “functional extinction.”

Therefore, it’s vital that traditional plant-breeding gets enough space. A space where plants are adapted to the environment they will live in. They keep pace with the development of pests, climate, and other environmental factors. They become varied. This means that not everyone can always be the best, but perhaps you’ll discover your favourites among the multitude.

The UN has long recognized the threats to plant resources and people’s ability to produce food. The Declaration on Farmers’ Human Rights (2022) includes the right to manage our inherited seed diversity. But rather than the UN, it’s the EU’s rules and trade requirements that set the standard for the whole world. Are the new seed laws a step in the right direction, or the opposite?

It’s apparent that the legislation proposal has been carefully thought through to cover all types of plant reproductive materials and uses. A variety that doesn’t qualify for the official list can be registered as a “conservation variety”; but even if it falls outside the framework, there exists category after category of ‘special rules’. However all seeds must enter the system—a kind of population registry for plants. It could provide an opportunity for more varieties to become legal. But it could also become hopelessly expensive and cumbersome to handle unusual seed varieties. Registration and control fees could be a more effective barrier than explicit bans, which would arouse every gardener’s spirit of protest!

It is debated that the control should be risk-based. Larger operations that handle larger quantities and could therefore cause problems on a larger scale require greater control. Does the opposite then apply? Do smaller operations require less control? No, both seed legislation and plant protection regulations are designed entirely for large-scale food production. Control serves an important function there, which is sometimes vital when considering invasive organisms and genetic manipulation techniques. But one might think that it should be kept within its context. The current directive is interpreted differently in Denmark; seed trade aimed at hobbyist gardeners is not affected.

One might think that it should operate on a scale relative to the size of operation. There is a difference between many hectares and a few tens of meters, plants and seeds are inspected by the grower’s own eyes, at harvest and when washed by hand. Small scale and small quantities pose neither great risks nor great incomes. But they contribute significantly to diversity for the simple reason that we are, or could be; many.

That’s about as much as I managed to say in five minutes in front of the top officials at the Swedish government offices.

The struggle continues, the conversation continues

The law is planned to be passed in 2024 and to enter into force three years later. Will we be able to cultivate our gardens in peace then? I doubt it. The battle over the terms of seed trade will continue as long as there are conflicting interests. That’s how it is in a democracy. If we remain silent, industry will lead the way, but the open atmosphere of dialogue that the EU and the Swedish Board of Agriculture have developed in recent times bodes well.

What can you and I do? Buy from small producers. Feel free to use your own seeds and share them. Organize a local seed swap in your community. All such actions support variation and forges resilience. If there’s some kind of crisis, or just curiosity about creating something new, the chance is greatly increased that there are plant resources that can meet the need.

Last but not least, raise the issue, spread knowledge about it! This article is free to distribute, publish and translate.

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Read on Sivert’s website