15th Let’s Liberate Diversity!
REGISTRATION ARE OPEN UNTIL 30 APRIL
The 15th edition of the LLD Forum will be held in Scandicci from May 23 to 25, 2026, in conjunction with the 5th edition of the 72 Hours of Biodiversity organized by Rete Semi Rurali, Italy.
5 th Let’s Cultivate Diversity!
REGISTRATION ARE ALSO OPEN!
The European Grain Festival 2026 in Denmark combines parallel sessions of baking workshops, cooking demos, tastings, field demonstrations, poster sessions and lectures. You will meet and network with experienced bakers, farmers, chefs, processors, breeders and researchers from all over Europe.
—If you aim to produce quality cereal and cereal based food, this is the place to be.
At the heart of the festival you will find a demonstration field displaying hundreds of diverse grain varieties from all over Europe.
USE IT or LOSE IT
The European Coordination Let’s Liberate Diversity! (ECLLD) is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the dynamic management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
Our core belief is that the diversification of our food systems can be achieved through the collaborative efforts of various stakeholders involved in cultivated biodiversity.
The Coordination boasts a robust network of 22 members with a network of 170 national organizations operating across 21 European countries with a membership base exceeding 35,000.
In collaboration with approximately 15,000 farmers, we actively engage in the conservation and management of around 40,000 plant varieties.
Where we are
We want to bring diversity back in our food system!
Countries across all the Europan Region
Staff and volunteers
Organisations part of the network
Varietes maintend and managed by the network
Individual Members
Farmers and gardeners involved in dynamic management of cultivated biodiversity
What we do
As an influential platform, EC-LLD! serves as a unique space for facilitating the exchange of practices and information among farmers, seed savers, NGO members, and emerging small enterprises, fostering local actions on agrobiodiversity and promoting participatory dialogues.
Our proven expertise extends to our participation in projects funded by Horizon Europe, Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020. Furthermore, we have established successful collaborations with a diverse range of foundations and academic institutions.
Our work span across the 3 following areas
policy
Capacity building and knowledge sharing regarding agrobiodiversity, seed policies and legislastion.
policy
Capacity building and knowledge sharing regarding agrobiodiversity, seed policies and legislastion.
Communities seed banks
Training, support and management across Europe.
Communities seed banks
Training, support and management across Europe.
Communities
Facilitating peer to peer exchange of practices and information between different actors.
Communities
Facilitating peer to peer exchange of practices and information between different actors.
NEWS
LLD speaks to SeedWorld about preserving seed diversity
LLD Board Member and and technical director of Rete Semi Rurali, Riccardo Bocci, recently spoke to SeedWorld about efforts to preserve seed genetic diversity in Europe.
Riccardo spoke about LLD’s work representing 22 seed banks across Europe, and the organisation’s efforts to promote the inclusion of these community seed banks in the UN’s ‘Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture’ framework. Across Europe, there is a growing interest among farmers and the public to conserve traditional seed varieties. This growing interest is the result of dedicated training and education efforts from organisations such as LLD, and through EU-funded research projects.
The article also covers similar efforts to preserve seed diversity in the USA, Africa and internationally through initiatives led by the Germany-based Crop Trust.
There is an urgent need to preserve genetic diversity in the face of the threat posed by the ongoing consolidation of the global seed sector.
Read the article here: https://www.seedworld.com/europe/2025/04/11/preserving-seed-diversity-in-europe/
Final Report Released: 13th Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum and International Gathering “Sow Your Resistance”
We are delighted to announce the release of the Final Report of the 13th Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum, which in 2024 was hosted as part of the International Gathering “Sow Your Resistance” in Antibes, France. Co-organised by Réseau Semences Paysannes (RSP), SOL,...
Support the European Citizens’ Initiative on the Right to Food!
In May 2024, the second European Citizens’ Initiative Forum for the Right to Food was held in Geneva, Switzerland. The event brought together over 70 participants who engaged in various working groups over the three days, initiating a collaborative process to advocate for the right to food.
European Citizens’ Initiative Forum for the Right to Food, May 2024
The European Citizens’ Initiative on the Right to Food has been submitted
Last month, the Brussels-based NGO Good Food for All – EU (GFFA-EU) officially submitted the European Citizens’ Initiative on the Right to Food to the European Commission. Once confirmed, the ECI will open a for signature collection. One million verified signatures from EU citizens and minimum threshold of signatures across seven EU states are needed for the European Commission to consider proposing new laws on the right to food.
For now, it is time to organize. Participants of the May 2024 Forum are invited to collaborate with Good Foor for All – EU in driving the ECI campaign.
How can you support?
1. Join the Coalition
If your organization supports the Right to Food and wants to be part of this European force for change, please fill out this short form to officially express your interest in joining the coalition:
→ Join the Coalition Form
Once submitted, we will follow up with the Memorandum of Understanding for formalization. We are also appointing national focal points, so if your organization wants to take that lead, let us know in the form.
2. Join the Campaigning Working Group
We are relaunching the pan-European campaign we began designing last year. We need political communicators, campaigners, creative agencies, grassroots mobilizers, and fierce allies.
If your organization can contribute, or if you want to refer someone else, please fill out this form:
→ Join the Campaign Group Form
3. Spread the Fire
Talk about the ECI on the Right to Food! Share the links. Use your channels. Mobilize your networks. Be the voice of the Right to Food in your country, your organization, your city.
Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum 2025 – Registration Now Open
We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum 2025, co-organised by Let’s Liberate Diversity!, Lycée Technicque Agricole (LTA), SEED Luxembourg, and LUGA Join us in Luxembourg from 4 to 6 September 2025 for a...
Launch of the DiverSeedPaths Booklet on EU Seed Policy and Legislation
The DiverSeedPaths project is proud to announce the release of its latest publication, “Capacity Building on European Seed Policy and Legislation”. This practical and accessible resource is designed to empower farmers, seed savers, policymakers, and...
EC-LLD! – Report from the FAO Working Group Session on PGRFA – Review of the Global Plan of Action
This week, the European Coordination Let’s Liberate Diversity (ECLLD) participated as an observer in the FAO Working Group on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The session marks an important step in the revision of the Global Plan of Action (GPA), a...
Call for urgent and important changes to the EU seed regulation proposal
Early next week (9-10 December 2024) the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the EU will discuss the new EU Regulation on the Production and Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material (PRM) that was proposed by the Commission in July 2023. This proposal is particularly detrimental as it threatens the conservation and circulation of the diversity of cultivated plants in favour of industrial seed production, disregarding farmers’ right to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds,
as enshrined in international law.
For over a year now, organisations all over Europe have joined forces and garnered public support through the Raise your fork for diversity! campaign, which has reached nearly 170,000 signatures. The latest step in the advocacy to oppose the proposal has been a joint Call for Urgent and Important Changes, sent by 139 organisations to the 27 EU Agriculture Ministers and the new EU Health Commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, in advance of the Council meeting next week,.
In their press release, the organisations explain:
The current legislative proposal poses a massive threat to the diversity of our cultivated plants and to the right of our farmers to use their own seeds
…
Based on the proposal, activities aimed at saving rare varieties—such as the transfer of cuttings from endangered apple trees or sharing of endangered bean varieties— would be regulated as “marketing” for the first time.
Four demands are put forward with regards to the new EU seed legislation:
- The conservation and sustainable use of locally adaptable crop diversity is the over-riding priority.
- The human right of farmers and gardeners to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds must be implemented fully.
- The marketing of diverse and locally adaptable varieties by regional seed producers must be facilitated.
- Newly approved varieties must not be dependent on pesticides or synthetic fertilisers.
Read the full press release: 139 Organisations and 160000 citizens appeal to EU Agriculture Ministers
Learn more about the public campaign and give your support by signing the petition.
Cultivated Diversity – Organic seeds for tasty food
A consumer-oriented flier from EU project LiveSeeding promotes organic plant breeding as a sustainable way to develop local adaption and climate resilience. It highlights the importance of increasing cultivated diversity, in particular with regards to diversified populations and open pollinated varieties, encouraging consumers to support organic farming and local economies by buying locally and advocating for organic seed use.
- Cultivated Diversity – Organic seeds for tasty food (EN)
- Kultivierte Vielfalt (DE)
- La diversité cultivé (FR)
- La diversita’ coltivata (IT)
Having enthusiastically embraced them in his work, Italian baker Stefano Piluso explains – in a YouTube video for Rete Semi Rurali that supports the message – how he became aware of wheat populations and learned to make bread with the stone-milled flour from those grains.
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.
Reseau Semences Paysannes (RSP): vie.asso@semencespaysannes.org
European Coordination Let’s Liberate Diversity (EC-LLD): info@liberatediversity.org
Agroecology Partnership: Opportunities for Seed Networks in Europe
The Agroecology Partnership, funded by Horizon Europe, is a transformative initiative uniting the European Commission and 72 partners across 26 countries. With a budget of €300 million, this ambitious project began on January 1, 2024, and will run until December...
Seed legislation, seed marketing, advocacy, seed systems, scientific publication, school and seminar, patents
Agrobiodiversity, seed savers, seed networks
Plant breeding, LLD Forum, news from members, news from other organizations
– SEEDS STORIES –
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The ECLLD - News! informs about events, ongoing projects and insights regarding cultivated biodiversity at European level.
We are very pleased with your interest in our challenges, our diversity is our strength!
-COMMON CALENDAR –
On Schedule
EC-LLD! General Assembly (for EC-LLD! members only)Field Visits
- On Schedule
Official opening of the ForumField Visits
- On Schedule
WS1: Seeds, Biodiversity and the Right to Food: The Role of Municipal Food Policies
- On Schedule
WS 2: Seeds in Common: Genebanks, Breeding Innovation, and the Future of Democratic Seed Systems
- On Schedule
WS 3: On-farm agrobiodiversity in the Balkan region: from preservation to plant population development
Submit an Event
Legal Watch
The legal watch is realised by the French Farmers’ seeds network, Réseau Semences Paysannes. Informations are related to seeds marketing, intellectual property rights, genetic ressources.
It is presented in French.
on EU topics
- Plateforme ACLP, Communiqué du 27 février 2025 - L’ACLP participe à la table ronde sur la propriété intellectuelle et les semences au Salon international de l’agriculture de Paris 2025
- Convention sur la diversité biologique, Communiqué du 24 février 2025, Le Fonds de Cali est lancé en marge de la reprise de la session de la COP16
- OMPI, Communiqué du 5 décembre 2024 - Le Malawi est le premier pays à ratifier le Traité de l’OMPI sur la propriété intellectuelle, les ressources génétiques et les savoirs traditionnels associés
- Confédération suisse, Avis du Conseil fédéral sur le rapport de la CSEC-N relatif à la prolongation du moratoire sur le génie génétique, 29 janvier 2025
- ACLP, Communiqué du 5 février 2025 - L’ACLP organise une session d’information pour les décideurs politiques de l’UE
