The Seed Savers' Network Explained

The Seed Savers' Network
Abbreviation:SSN
Founder:Jude and Michel Fanton
Owners:-->

The Seed Savers' Network (SSN) is an Australian not-for-profit organisation, based in Byron Bay, New South Wales.[1] [2] Since 1986, SSN has organised gardeners and farmers to collect, multiply and redistribute garden seeds in Australia and also within peasant organisations worldwide.[3]

SSN operates on the premise that seeds are best kept in their socio-cultural context.[4] [5] It promotes conservation and development of agricultural biodiversity in situ, that is, on-site with growers, rather than in seed banks.[6] 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.[7] [8]

History

SSN was founded in 1986 by Michel and Jude Fanton.[9] [10] 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 in WWII, and a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp. They feel they continue the resistance work of their parents with this organisation.The Seed Savers' Network is registered as a charitable organisation.[11]

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.[12] 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 reporting in 2010 that 75 per cent had been lost in the previous century.[13]

Agencies of the United Nations have prioritised the conservation of traditional varieties of useful plants by gardeners and farmers.[14] [15]

Plant genetic diversity continues to play a central role in shaping agriculture growth in the face of climate change. By farmers and gardeners conserving seeds, each seed generation is able to adapt to changes in climate.[16]

Home gardens are micro-environments that contain levels of species and varietal diversity higher than those found in nearby agro-ecosystems.[17] 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.[18] Seeds with proprietary rights – plant variety rights – are not suitable for home seed saving as it is illegal to propagate from patented seed.[19]

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.[20] [21] From 1986 to 2008 it had a seed bank that received seed samples from around Australia.[22]

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.[23]

Since its inception SSN has been based within research gardens, designed on permaculture principles,[24] where varieties are trialled:

There are also kitchens where the produce is trialled for taste and nutrition.[28]

SSN promotes and popularises seed saving[29] [30] and educates for seed saving skills via its newsletters,[31] posters, publications,[32] [33] documentaries,[34] [35] 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.[36] [37] 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.[38] [39] 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.[40] [41] A collection of 843 varieties of taro nationally with Planting Materials Network funded by the EU and Tarogen network (South Pacific Commission).[42]

Tonga

Save our Seed Project with The Commonwealth Foundation.[43]

Ecuador

Helped establish Red de Guardianes de Semillas in 2003.[44]

Cambodia

Worked with the Department of Women's and Veterans' Affairs in 1998 and 1999.[45]

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.[46] [47]

Afghanistan

Worked with NICCO, a Japanese aid agency, in the Agricultural Faculty of Herat University.[48] Also worked with Slow Food, Italy, in the promotion of traditional varieties of grapes in Herat in 2003.[48]

The Gambia and Senegal

Advised and researched seed networking with Concern Universal in 2013.[30]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Australian Business Register.
  2. Web site: Australian Charities. 31 July 2015.
  3. Web site: Seed Savers' Network Aims. 31 July 2015.
  4. Martin. Gary J. Sources for Applying Ethnobotany to Conservation and Community Development. People and Plants Handbook. 2001. 7. 19. People and Plants, UNESCO. Paris. 31 July 2015.
  5. Pearce. Lee. The Seed Keepers. Australian Geographic. July 2000. 59. 19 & 20. 31 July 2015. Australian Geographic Society. Sydney.
  6. The Seed Savers' Network. Forests, Trees and People. March 1996. 30. International Rural Development Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden, Community Forestry Unit, FAO. Rome. 31 July 2015.
  7. Book: Ogata. Megu'u. Grassroots Seed Network Preserves Food Crops Diversity in Australia; Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity, A Sourcebook, Volume 2. 2002. International Development Research Center. Rome. 971-614-021-5. 284–288. en, es, fr.
  8. Book: Gardening Australia. ABC. Flora. 2003. ABC Books. Sydney. 0-7333-1094-X. 34, 35.
  9. Book: Murray. David. Seeds of Concern: The Genetic Manipulation of Plants. 2003. University of NSW Press. Sydney. 0-86840-460-8. 124.
  10. Book: Gardening Australia. ABC. Flora. 2003. ABC Books. Sydney. 0-7333-1094-X. vii.
  11. Web site: Australian Charities and Not-for Profits Commission.
  12. Web site: Local Seed Networks.
  13. Book: Food and Agriculture Plant Production and Protection Division. Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources. 1996. FAO. Rome. 17.
  14. Book: Mulvany, Patrick. Agricultural Biodiversity, in Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity, A Sourcebook, Volume 1. 2002. CIP UPWARD, International Development Research Center. Rome. 16.
  15. Book: Friis-Hansen, E. Participatory Approaches to the Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources. 2000. International Plant Genetics Research Institute. Rome. 92-9043-444-9.
  16. Book: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The Second Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. 2010. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome. 978-92-5-106534-1.
  17. Book: Eyzaguirre. Pablo B.. Home Gardens and Agrobiodiversity. 2004. Smithsonian Books. 1-58834-112-7.
  18. Galluzzi. G.. Eyzaguirre. P.. NegrI. V.. Home gardens: neglected hotspots of agro-biodiversity and cultural diversity. Biodiversity and Conservation. December 2010. 19. 13. 3635–3654. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht, Holland. 0960-3115. 10.1007/s10531-010-9919-5. 2010BiCon..19.3635G . 32684504.
  19. Book: ABC Gardening Australia. Flora. 2003. ABC Books. Sydney. 0-7333-1094-X. 34–35. Fanton, J., Heirloom Seeds and Plants.
  20. Brouwer. Stephen. Australian Scene. Time Magazine Australia. 28 November 1988. 22.
  21. Book: Murray. David. Growing Peas and Beans. 1999. Kangaroo Press. Sydney. 0-86417-989-8. 8.
  22. News: Gardening Australia. Seeds for the Future. 29 July 2015. ABC TV programme. Episode 21, Series 25. 9 August 2014.
  23. Book: Fanton. Michel and Jude. Glastonbury. Amy. Local Seed Network Manual. 2004. The Seed Savers' Network. Byron Bay, Australia.
  24. Book: Mollison. Bill. Permaculture Designers' Manual. 1988. Tagari. Tyalgum, Australia. 0-908228-01-5. 260 & colour plates 7.
  25. Book: Vietmeyer. Noel D.. Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation. 1989. National Research Council, National Academies Press. Washington DC. 0-309-04264-X. 48 & 351.
  26. News: Coleby-Williams. Jerry. Fact Sheet. 20 August 2015. Gardening Australia. ABC TV programme. 25 November 2004.
  27. News: Gardening Australia. Seeds for the Future. Episode 21, Series 25. ABC TV programme. 9 August 2014.
  28. Book: Katz. Sandor Ellix. The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food. 2006. Chelsea Green Publishing. Burlington, Vermont, USA. 978-1-933392-11-0. 57. registration.
  29. Book: Murray. David. cite Seeds of Concern: The Genetic Manipulation of Plants. 2003. University of NSW Press. Sydney. 0-86840-460-8.
  30. Michaels. Simeon. Planting the Seeds of Wisdom around the Globe. The Echo Weekly Newspaper. 22 October 2013. 11. Mullumbimby, Australia.
  31. Book: Murray. David. Seeds of Concern: The Genetic Manipulation of Plants. 2003. University of NSW Press. Sydney. 127, 128 & 136.
  32. Book: Fanton. Michel and Jude. The Seed Savers' Handbook. 1993. The Seed Savers' Network. Byron Bay, Australia. 0-646-10226-5.
  33. Book: Fanton. Jude. Immig. Jo. Seed to Seed Food Gardens in Schools. 2007. The Seed Savers' Network. Byron Bay, Australia. 978-0-646-48053-4.
  34. Web site: Our Roots Documentary. Youtube Seed Savers Channel. The Seed Savers' Network. 20 August 2015. 2010.
  35. Web site: Our Seeds Documentary. Youtube Seed Savers Channel. The Seed Savers' Network. 20 August 2015. 2008.
  36. The Seed Savers' Network. Non-wood News. March 1997. 4. FAO Forest Economics, Policy and Product Division. Rome.
  37. Book: Ogata. Megumu. The Seed Savers' Network. Conservation and Sustainable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity, A Sourcebook, Volume 2. 2002. CIP UPWARD, International Development Research Center. Rome. vii & 284–287. Grassroots Seed Network Preserves Food Crops Diversity in Australia.
  38. Raymond. Ruth. Seed Savers in Island Nations. Geneflow. 1996. 24. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Rome.
  39. Solomon Islands network returns local crops to village farmers. Geneflow. 2001. 23. 20 August 2015. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, CGIAR. Rome.
  40. Melanesian Farmers Conserve Banana Diversity. Spore. December 2005. 120. 7. 20 August 2015. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) is a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU).
  41. Banana Diversity. Geneflow. 2004. 50. 20 August 2015. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. Rome. 9789290436447.
  42. Fanton. Michel. A Fair Feast of Taro Diversity. Geneflow. 2002. 12. 20 August 2015. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (CGIAR). Rome. 9789290435327.
  43. Community Seed Bank Training – Planting the Seeds for Food Security in Commonwealth Countries. Common Path. October 1996. 4. The Commonwealth Foundation. London.
  44. Web site: Red de Guardianes de Semillas. 20 August 2015.
  45. Cambodian Trained in Seed Saving. Geneflow. 1999. 30. 20 August 2015. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, CGIAR. Rome.
  46. Martin, Gary J. The Seed Savers' Network. People and Plants Handbook, Sources for Applying Ethnobotany to Conservation and Community Development. 2001. 7. 19. People and Plants, UNESCO. Paris.
  47. Raymond. Ruth. NGO Project Brings Biodiversity Back to Borneo. Geneflow. 1998. 20. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, CGIAR. Rome.
  48. Fanton. Jude. Oliver. Martin. Grapes of Herat, Afghanistan. Geneflow. 2004. 4 & 5. 20 August 2015. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, CGIAR. Rome. 9789290436447.

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