The Seed Savers' Network
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The Seed Savers' Network (SSN) is an Australian not-for-profit organisation, based in Byron Bay, New South Wales. Since 1986, SSN has organised gardeners and farmers to collect, multiply and redistribute garden seeds in Australia and also within peasant organisations worldwide. SSN operates on the premise that seeds are best kept in their socio-cultural context. It promotes conservation and development of agricultural biodiversity in situ, that is, on-site with growers, rather than in
seed bank A seed bank (also seed banks, seeds bank or seed vault) stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, ...
s. The organisation educates the public on the importance of locally saved seeds, their heritage and associated cultural diversity. It has produced three books and two documentaries.


History

SSN was founded in 1986 by Michel and Jude Fanton. Jude is the daughter of Sally and Graham F Smith, the latter a long-time peace activist in Adelaide and inspiration for the Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation. Michel is the son of Claudine and Henri Fanton, the latter a member of the
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
in WWII, and a survivor of the
Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...
. They feel they continue the resistance work of their parents with this organisation. The Seed Savers' Network is registered as a
charitable organisation A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...
. Commencing in the year 2000 and completed in 2008, SSN decentralised its seed collection, multiplication and distribution of seeds to over 100 affiliated Local Seed Networks (LSNs) around Australia. Gardeners exchange excess seeds and garden produce at LSN events.


Rationale

The rationale for the network is that plant genetic resources are essential to sustainable agriculture and food security. Globally, there has been a decline in agricultural biodiversity with the
Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...
reporting in 2010 that 75 per cent had been lost in the previous century. Agencies of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
have prioritised the conservation of traditional varieties of useful plants by gardeners and farmers. Plant genetic diversity continues to play a central role in shaping agriculture growth in the face of
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. By farmers and gardeners conserving seeds, each seed generation is able to adapt to changes in climate. Home gardens are micro-environments that contain levels of species and varietal diversity higher than those found in nearby agro-ecosystems. Home gardens are thus important as reservoirs of agricultural biodiversity. Of equal importance are the gardeners / peasants who have the skills and knowledge of its utilisation. Seeds with proprietary rights –
plant variety rights Plant breeders' rights (PBR), also known as plant variety rights (PVR), are rights granted in certain places to the plant breeding, breeder of a new Plant variety (law), variety of plant that give the breeder exclusive exclusive control over the ...
– are not suitable for home
seed saving In agriculture and gardening, seed saving (sometimes known as brown bagging) is the practice of saving seeds or other reproductive material (e.g. tubers, Grafting, scions, Cutting (plant), cuttings) from vegetables, grain, herbs, and flowers for u ...
as it is illegal to propagate from patented seed.


Activities in Australia

Since its establishment in 1986, the Seed Savers' Network has collected and conserved local varieties within a network of gardeners who save and swap locally adapted seeds. From 1986 to 2008 it had a seed bank that received seed samples from around Australia. Over the space of eight years, culminating in 2008, that seed flow has been decentralised out to sub-groups, Local Seed Networks. These groups collect and distribute local varieties in their region to reinforce local genetic characteristics. Since its inception SSN has been based within research gardens, designed on
permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using Systems theory, whole-systems thinking. It applies t ...
principles, where varieties are trialled: * In Nimbin, Australia, from 1986 to 1991 * In Byron Bay, Australia, from 1998 to the present (2015) There are also kitchens where the produce is trialled for taste and nutrition. SSN promotes and popularises seed saving and educates for seed saving skills via its newsletters, posters, publications, documentaries, the internet and the media with over 500 articles about it.


Global activities

The SSN has delivered community seed bank training and helped form seed networks in several dozen nations with non-government organisations, universities and government departments. Some examples of SSN's global activities are listed below:-


Solomon Islands

Helped in the establishment of the Planting Materials Network and in several projects conserving traditional local varieties of crops such as vegetables, sweet potatoes, taros, bananas and cereals and pulses for chicken feed. Aided the Kastom Gaden Association in the organisation of over 100 varieties of bananas. The collection was made on the island of Makira and was fully described with internationally recognised descriptors. Varieties were restored to farmers. A collection of 843 varieties of
taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...
nationally with Planting Materials Network funded by the EU and Tarogen network (South Pacific Commission).


Tonga

Save our Seed Project with The Commonwealth Foundation.


Ecuador

Helped establish Red de Guardianes de Semillas in 2003.


Cambodia

Worked with the Department of Women's and Veterans' Affairs in 1998 and 1999.


Sabah, Malaysia

Worked with People and Plants on education projects aimed at the restoration of planting useful native species with Dusun Kadasan tribals in 1998.


Afghanistan

Worked with NICCO, a Japanese aid agency, in the Agricultural Faculty of Herat University. Also worked with Slow Food, Italy, in the promotion of traditional varieties of grapes in Herat in 2003.


The Gambia and Senegal

Advised and researched seed networking with Concern Universal in 2013.


See also

* Gardening in Australia


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seed Savers' Network 1986 establishments in Australia Gardening in Australia Horticultural organisations based in Australia Conservation and environmental foundations in Australia Non-profit organisations based in New South Wales Byron Bay