Seeds Circulation

Seeds circulationFrancesca Giacosa

Seeds are the origin of all plant life. They travel by air carried in the wind, they float in streams, rivers and oceans and they travel around the planet carried un-wittingly by animals and humans. These tiny capsules carry the genetic information for a species protected inside their safe shells indefinitely, until they find the right physical and temperate conditions in which to germinate and give life to another plant.

In some cases this can involve remaining dormant in the soil for years through droughts and monsoons until the right conditions occur for germination ensuring the plants ecological survival. The Earth has seen number of significant planetary changes over the last two hundred tears: the industrial and agricultural revolution of the early 19th and mid-20th century, changes in climatic conditions through climate change and the human selection of edible plants through monocultures. All these factors have greatly changed the diversity of the worldʼs flora none has been so damaging as the intensive monocultures focused chiefly on the cultivation of plants for Biofuel production and the few key strains of wheatʼs and cereals utilised in High Yield Cropping.

“The standardized varieties produced during the last green revolution proved so successful that they have taken over the worldʼs fields, elbowing out thousands of traditional varieties bred by farmers over the years” (Saving the Seeds from the Next Green Revolution, Fred Pearce)

The environmental risks of these intensive agricultural systems are very high, in the past 100 years we have lost about 75% of the worldʼs floral diversity which places an increased stress on surviving species. In addition this greatly reduces the mixture of nutrients and organic matter found in soil systems, leaving many plant varieties to struggling to survive in such dramatically changing ecosystems.

“Biological diversity helps an ecosystem adapt to changes, including threats, from the environment. One species of animal will outrun a predator better than another. If drought or disease kills one kind of plant, a hardier cousin may survive. Even a single species of plant typically consists of many slightly different varieties. Those plant varieties carry genes for a wide assortment of traits – from size to flavour to disease resistance. The greater the genetic diversity of a plant species, the less likely it is that one single threat – such as a virus, bacterium, drought, flood or predator – can destroy the species. Thatʼs important not only for the species itself, but for other plants and animals that depend on it for their survival.” (The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan)

How I grew an interest in SeedsMy interest in “seeds” began towards the end of my first trimester (December 2009) when I read the book “Terra Madre, Come Non Farci Mangiare dal Cibo” by Carlo Petrini , which translated means “Mother Earth, how to avoid being eaten by food”. The author is the founder of “Terra Madre” a non-profit Italian organisation initially born inside the Slow Food movement. The book critically discusses issues of: plant diversity, markets of food, circulation of edible plants and seeds and environmental impact of modern agricultural techniques. The message in the book inspired me to explore behind the food I eat. I realised that what I purchase from the market is the end product of a long arduous series of actions and processes of which the consumer is often ignorant, so I asked myself where does it all start, where does every variety of edible and non-edible plants come from; the answer of course is SEEDS.

The social and economical implications of the commercial agricultural system are complex and unfortunately in most cases driven towards the increasing privatisation of edible plants for economic gain.

The worlds population is constantly increasing, in a couple of decades with the threat of drastic climatic changes becoming ever more present, people and governments will have face increasing agricultural pressures with a reduction of viable land for agriculture and reductions in annual precipitation levels possibly leading to a scarcity of food. If we donʼt learn to give seeds the attention they

need and deserve by protecting them from extinction and cultivating them less intensively this threat will become ever more real.Seeds like every living entity require: nurturing and attention, we cannot force them to change there millennia structures either chemically or biologically by altering there natural processes or genetic instincts with intense monocultures and huge amounts of pesticides, without this having severe reproductions to plant species structures and soil eco-systems.

“Providing for the needs of 9 billion people, without ruining the biosphere, will be one of the greatest challenges we have ever faced.” (The Other Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis in Global Land Use, Jonathan Foley)

My research began with trying to understand where the seeds come from and who if, anyone owes them.Governments own varieties of seeds: they set up rules and regulations for their use, they run research centres to analyze them and they fund Seed banks in which they collect national varieties in order to provide a safe future for coming generations;Multinational Corporations own varieties of seeds: in the past 30 years mega-rich multinationals involved in the agricultural markets have obtained patents that give them the right to control and sell certain varieties of plants. This way they can sell them to farmers denying them the right harvest and grow via open-pollinating, forcing the farmers to crop plants completely, re-planting fresh seeds year on year these demands greatly increase their profits:Non-profit and International Organisations: donʼt necessary own seeds, but they work to try economically and biologically ease the intensity in which farmers supply their cultivations, helping to protect endangered plant varieties from extinction. These organisations gain public favour and funding to create networks of gardeners, farmers, small sellers, individual growers who organise events and meetings in order to increase peopleʼs knowledge on particular issues for

example: corporate control over seeds, environmental harm of monocultures and the merits of organic cultivationScientific Researchers: depending on what kind of research centre they work (public, private or independent) researchers undertake different types of studies, and investigate a diverse array of projects which include: processes to safeguard natural plant biodiversity, work on GMO (genetically modified organisms) for the interest of private companies and research on natural pesticides. These organisations do not own the seeds they buy from the common market and are restricted by legislative restrictions on the use of these purchased seeds.Farmers, individuals and gardeners: fortunately not all the plant growers of the world are controlled by private companies, a large part of them (especially the small producers) are still independent and still harvest seeds every year from open-pollinating their own plants.

Governments

In every Nation the circulation and growth of plant varieties are controlled by governmental laws and regulations. The revised United Kingdom Statute Law Database contains the “Act 1964 (c. 14) where named Plant Varieties and Seeds have strict growing restrictions and legislation for the purveyors of seeds order to prevent the use of unknown or unsafe seed varieties:

“PART II: The Minister, after consultation with representatives of such interests as appear to him to be concerned, may by statutory instrument make such regulations as appear to him to be necessary or expedient for the purpose:

(a)of ensuring that reliable and adequate information is afforded as to the nature, condition and quality of seeds which are sold or are for sale,

(b)of preventing the sale of seeds which are deleterious, and of preventing the sale of seeds which have not been tested for purity and germination, or which are of a variety the performance of which has not been subjected to trials,

(c)of preventing the spread of plant disease by [F1means] of seeds,

(d)of regulating the descriptions under which seeds are sold, and

(e)of prescribing anything which, under this Part of this Act, is authorised or required to be prescribed, and regulations under this section shall be known as seeds regulations.” (HYPERLINK http://www.opsi.gov.uk, Office of Public Sector Information)

The intent of this legislation is to protect farmers from unknown seeds and the possible eventuality of the introduction of diseases in their cultivation and to aide these ends governments have for years compiled National Lists that classify all the seeds eligible of marketing and certification.In the United Kingdom this method of classification of plant varieties was first adopted in 1973, when the Nation entered the European Community, using this national specific information the EU complies its own Common List of Plant varieties which amalgamate all those from member countries.

The varieties which are not included on the list cannot be legally sold as seeds but can be grown and sold as food products, they become part of a “B” list. This arbitrary listing system is unfortunately causing the loss of many historic and local genuses that are not classified as suitable for mass-marketing and certification.

However the certification is always available for new seeds and open for anyone to apply. The process is simple: you fill out an application sheet, suggest an appropriate name for the variety and specify its genetic characteristics. The only negative aspect of the application is the fee that must be paid annually to guarantee the continued presence of the new varieties on the list. This particular detail plays into the hands of large co-operations who can afford yearly fees and not those of private growersʼ intent on protecting diversity. The other difficulty with adding varieties to the list is the risk of the plant genus not surviving or not yielding enough for a viable economic market and are therefore only be taken by growers that have large economic resources invariably sponsored by large multi-nationals. For these reasons only a couple of varieties have been successfully added to the UK list during the past five years.

The recommended seed list is produced each year, it contains wheats and barley, oats and all the varieties that are likely to be grown. Researchers do trialings on these varieties and looking for various traits, they scored them to see how good these traits might be and finally they go to shows like the “Serials” and the “Royal”, which are agricultural shows. Here you get people pushing particular varieties they have an interest in, and obviously they want farmers to buy these seeds so they can then recruit some of the money they put into them. Occasionally it goes wrong: we have only had three varieties in the last 4/5 years that have been held and have grown fantastic. Other varieties have had a really good yelding and have shown to be resistant to this or that other disease for the first two or three years and than they have developed genetic breakdowns. An example is the disease called “Yellow Rust”: this disease has particulary attacked the new varieties that have been on the list for only for a couple years. This way the interest in the new varieties drops down because they show to be very susceptible to diseases. Some of the old varieties have been on the list since the 1980s, some other varieties have only been around for a couple of years and they are already going off the list” (From interview to Mr Garry Talbot : Rothamsted Institutes Farms Manager)

Governments also run operations of collection and long-term storage of seeds in Seed banks these specialised containment units to protect the seeds from possible damaging elements and save localised flora threatened by pollution damage and extinction.

Seed banks aim to prevent the loss of species in scenarios of a future planet with rising temperatures and major changes in the structure of natural ecosystems and represent a resource to supply farmers encase of natural disasters. This scenario occurred in Honduras and Nicaragua (1998) following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch where both countries lost up to 95% of there banana crops and many other subsidence crops. In this tragic occasion farmers and plant growers rely heavily on the supplies of seeds from banks around the world. When seeds arrive at the Banks, they are submitted to several processes: classification, cleaning, brushing, X-raying, analyzing and stored at temperatures that vary between -18°C and -100°C according to they requirement of the variety. In addition to this, each seed needs constant re-plantating in order to ensure its intact freshness in the future and to allow the gathering of practical information on how to cultivate and nurture each specific varieties.

The economical and environmental costs of such complex conservation techniques are significant, especially if when considering that over 1300 banks exist throughout the world. The success of all seed-based genetic resource conservation is not always guaranteed even with all the care and attention given to the seeds and the constant re-planting and harvesting:

“It is important to realise that however much care is taken during seed collection, regeneration and storage, natural selection cannot be simulated and some artificial selection will be unavoidable, which inevitably leads to unpredictable genetic changes” (Ashton, 1988)

When I was first elucidated to the existence of seed banks I was fascinated by the ability of humans to store seed for such a long period of time. But I soon started having doubts about the artificiality of these places and about the reasons of their existence. I began asking myself if the ex-situ conservation of biodiversity is really worth the effort, are the resources that are put into its implementation and operation ecologically sustainable and applicable, or would it be more sustainable and appropriate to protect species diversity in-situ ensuring there constant adaptation and natural evolution to changes in the composition of the climate and soil ecosystems.

It seems to me that we are freezing a biodiversity that is still alive in the present climate conditions even if it is struggling to survive, and by placing them in suspension we greatly reduce there chances of being able to adapt to future conditions of soil, water and air.

“The main advantage of seed banking is that it allows large populations to be preserved and genetic erosion to be minimised by providing optimum conditions and reducing the need for regeneration (Given, 1987). However, when a natural population still exists, it may be advisable to re-collect rather than regenerate a new supply from the previous collection as damage can occur such as mutations associated with the loss of viability during storage.” (Botanic Garden Seed banks/Seed banks Worldwide, their Facilities, Collections and Networks Volume 2, Number 9 - December 1997 - Laliberté Brigitte)

Seed banks often face difficulties because of the poor legislation involved with the protection of seeds, a lack of economic funding and the simple fact that certain varieties cannot survive if frozen or dried: these seeds are recalcitrant which means that they lose their genetic resources if frozen or dried. Their work is integrated with the support of many International Organisations for example: FAO, EUCARPIA, CGIAR and often rely on botanic gardens to grow the varieties that can not survive in seed bank conditions,. There are around 1700 botanic gardens around the world which protect plant diversity preserving rare or threatened varieties and making them available for research purposes, public display and possible re-plantation on a larger scale following an ecological catastrophe.

After a long analysis of the subject I have developed my own opinion on Seed banks. I personally see them as fundamental research centres for the study of various plant species and an important method of protecting biodiversity. Although this is highly admirable we cannot let them become a substitute for keeping species as part of living ecosystems. Instead of relying on seed banks to preserve endangered plant species in the long turn we should do more work to protect living ecosystems and plant biodiversity in the here and now.

Human societies cannot rely exclusively on the existence of Seed banks to ensure the future sustainability of plant diversity. As a world nation we should work on increasing the ecological sustainability of existing agricultural methods. Moving away from the intensification of agriculture and utilising high yield varieties as the relying on the long-term freezing of the worldʼs plant matter to ensure biodiversity, itself carries heavy risks:

Environmentally, because of the number of banks and of the highly polluting techniques necessary to keep them working and of the risks that seeds might not adapt to future soil conditions;

Politically because of the issues of property and control over the seeds stored within;

Practically because the future generations of farmers might not be able to cultivate seeds hundreds of years old.

“I see the value of Seed banks for long-term research purposes" (Garry Talbot, Rothamsted Instituteʼs Farms Manager)

“Adaptability in cultivating and harvesting a particular type of seed can be just as important as having access to a diversity of seeds in the first place. I recently observed that the underlying issue is that keeping heirloom seeds in seed banks could become a when farmers no longer know how to cultivate different variations of a crop.” (“When Farming Goes Corporate”, Sara Novak, Columbia, SC)

Corporate controland patent rights

In the last forty years Private Corporations have been accumulating large numbers of patents awarding them the rights over particular strains and varieties, which has restricted the entire global agricultural system. Since farmers no longer own the seeds they grow, they are no longer allowed to harvest them yearly via the process of open-pollination but are instead obliged to buy them yearly from the market. If farmers attempt to save seeds from one year to the other or continue with the organic open-pollination technique they risk legal persecution.

Most of the seeds present on the market are hybrids where they have been modification has occurred cutting the plants lifetime to one harvest, meaning that they have to be replaced annually. The companies who own these patents also employ researchers and technicians to genetically modify specific aspects when allowed by specific national laws which include: creating strains which are responsive or rely on certain pesticides, can cope with certain climatic fluctuations or intensively increase yields.

This greatly increases their profits by selling certain pesticides specific to seeds. Multinational giants like Monsanto, DuPont and Pioneer are bending the worldʼs agricultural system for their own economic interests. In most cases it seems farmers have become pawns to increase profits and discard if they oppose these practices.

Agriculture is increasingly ruled by people who donʼt even get in contact with the plants themselves (chief executives, politicians, lawyers, managers). In recent years has seen a dramatic rise in suicides among farmers, especially in poor areas like rural India and Africa, where the increase in bureaucracy and a loss of economic control has resulted in dramatic numbers of deaths through suicide and agricultural induced poverty.

“Since 1970 multinational companies have bought or taken control of nearly a thousand, once independent, seed companies. The purchase of Pioneer Hi-Bred in 1999, the world's largest seed company, for $7.7 billion by Du-Pont, is part of a trend of concentration of power in the life sciences industry. (...) Multinational corporations have succeeded in gaining patent rights over new crop varieties. In 1970 the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Act was passed. Plant protection regimes offered opportunities for profit and created the incentive for corporate interests to buy control of the seed industry. Thousands of patents have been granted on plants.”(HYPERLINK "http://www.primalseeds.org")

These corporate acts of taking possession of plant varieties are highly contentious and highlight a grey area in who owns the rights over the seeds and who has the responsibility to sell them in the first place and the process has given birth to the term “biopiracy”.One of the first and most famous forms of Biopiracy was Charles Darwin in his voyages around the globe: during his travels he collected samples of flora and fauna from exotic areas and brought them back to the United Kingdom with the purpose of analyzing them to enrich his research into the origins of species and evolution.Cristoforo Colombo was another example of a biopirate: he imposed many rules and changes on the populations and ecosystems he

“We have 71 percent of U.S. cropland being used for just three crops, and a small handful of

companies supplying the seeds.”(The Seed Industryʼs Scary Consolidation, Andrew Price)

colonised and as a explorer he claimed to have rights of possession over every living creature in these colonised. The same is happening again now with wealthy multi-national companies taking possession of patent rights, as with Columbus these organisations focus on poorer countries where farmers and Governments donʼt have the economic or global backing to halt there accumulation or challenge there monopolisation of the industry.

“I am a little bit worried that its down to a relatively small amount of seed producers who have the capacity to say “You should be growing this particular variety this year because...” and everybody goes “Yes, yes, yes, yes!” and everybody grows that one seed and than it develops a breakdown and you get a drop off of yield and potential” (Garry Talbot, Rothamsted Researchʼs Farms Manager)

The monopolisation and privatisation of the agricultural economies is destructive for both the ethics of property and the survival of natural ecosystems

“Who has the seeds?” and “How do seeds circulate?” were the initial questions of my project. At this point my research only highlighted how seeds are not considered as a natural element free to circulate any longer, in the last 3 or 4 decades they have become the objects of rules, laws and regulations. They have become precious fonts of money and power.

I was extremely disappointed and shocked by the information I had collected so far, I decided to look for other ways in which seeds are cultivated, treated and shared. I came across a “Seed-Swap” organisation whose aim is to protect farmers from corporate control and protect plant varieties from extinction, which opened new directions my research and encouraged my hope for a better future of seeds and agriculture.

International non-profit

Organisations

The organisation I came across is based in Brighton and called ʻSeedy Sundayʼ, originally the organisation was called ʻSeedy Saturdayʼ because they used to organise their events on Saturdays but they changed it to Seedy Sunday for logistical purposes. This non-profit organisation collects enthusiast across the country and provides a platform for the exchange and swapping of seeds and in collaboration runs a campaign to protect biodiversity.

“The Seedy Sunday campaign is to protect biodiversity and protest against the increasing control of the seed supply by a handful of large companies. The F1 seeds sold by seed companies are not capable of being collected and used again after the plant has flowered, so for the first time in history growers have to buy new seed every year. This is annoying for growers in the UK, as it creates an expensive dependency, but a calamity for subsistence farmers elsewhere in the world.” (Lindy Sharpe, SeedySunday)

The organisation was born after a trip to Canada in 2001 where members of the Brighton and Hove Organic Gardening Group experienced a local seed-swap market. Instantly they saw the potential and decided seed-swapping was a great solution to maintain the circulation and existence of ball the plant varieties that are not included on National Lists. At present they run a major event every February in Brighton, and rely on subsidiary groups similar to their own to organise swaps in other parts of the country, with events occurring on an almost weekly basis. The present chair person of the organisation explained during an interview in Brighton, the difficulties that exist in getting people to understand the importance of seed swaps, shedding the obligatory hippie connotation and to come and participate. It is fundamental for the organisation to teach people the importance of historical

agricultural styles, where growers harvest seeds year on year from openly-pollinated plants, I direct opposition to modern global ideas on agriculture in which mostly genetically-hybrid seeds are used in conjunction with high intensity pesticide and fertilized farming.

"The ability of farmers to re-use seeds has many advantages. It allows them a measure of independence from the market and a potential source of additional income. Unfettered exchange ensures flows of genetic materials, contributes to locally appropriate seeds and to the diversity of crops, as well as constituting an important element of cultural life and community in many regions" (THREAD - Seeds of Hunger: intellectual property rights on seeds and the human rights response Backgrounder n°2 May 2009)

Seeds for the events are sourced from donations of farmers, gardeners, private individuals and companies like “Thompson & Morgan”, who sell little known of or ancient plan varieties in order to protect them from extinction. The seeds used during the events cannot be sold because most of them are not included on the National List and this is the reason they are swapped for no profit.

So why is seed swapping vital to ecosystems:-It maintains age-old skills-It keeps a diversity of locally adapted varieties alive-It resists the privatisation of plant genetic material-It keeps seed making in the garden and out of the laboratory-It gets round the counter-productive aspects of the National List, which even the government admits are daft-It helps protect biodiversity” (HYPERLINK “http://www.seedysunday.org”)

I attended one of the events they organised in collaboration with an indipendent community of people who lives in an abandoned field in South-West London, near the Kew Gardens. The event was on february the 14th, 2010.

!""#!$%&

Collect seeds of flowers, vegetables, herbs or fruits...

Bring them to the swap...Exchange them with others for FREE!(If you dont have any seeds to swap

please come anyway, you can get some if you are interested)

Thursday 18th march1pm - 3pm

Student Union building entrance hall

Lets swap seeds to protect the worlds biodiversity from the globalised market!

(Info:Francesca MA Design and Environment - [email protected])

Seeds are a symbol of democracy and a basic human right to food and nutrition which is a basic human right the world over.

I tried to organise my own small seed swap market, I wanted to understand peopleʼs behaviour and confusion to the reason why people hold such non-profit events. The swap took place in the Goldsmiths Student Union entrance hall on Thursday 18th of March, from 1pm to 3pm.

I sourced the seeds to swap from my own garden and from purpose made seed packs I had received at an early seed swap and other seeds donated to me through my friends and from the organiser of SeedySunday. A few people visited my table of seeds and stopped to ask what was happening? As it was lunch time not many people had the time read the informative posters I had printed; but most did ask that I explain the meaning and ethos behind the swapping event. Most peopleʼs reaction to my explanation of the commercial, ethical and environmental issues related to the circulation and ownership of seeds was shock and disappointment. Unfortunately no one arrived with seeds to swap, so I can conclude my advertising was not very effective, I hope it does not mean that the subject of swapping seeds is not an interesting subject worth spending on. Infact what I really encountered was that people are simply very uninformed about the process of seed and plant species control. I did give some seeds to the people who seemed to be really interested in my work, asking them to swap them on their own in the days after the event. The aim of the experiment was not only to swap seeds, but t give me a medium through which to spread around the knowledge that I had acquired concerning seeds and biodiversity.

A lot of people asked me: “What are you selling?” This approach of people to “objects” made me reflect on the human need to possess things, even if sometimes they donʼt really mean anything to us, because their value is related to the price we pay for them and not to what they really are, or the benefits they give us. Even seeds have become not much more than possessions. When then are in fact living organisms far older in history than humans, who we depend upon for our very survival: breathing, nutrition, drinking water.

The people who stopped for a chat about the event knew little or nothing about the catastrophic loss of biodiversity we are facing and this made me reflect on how little we know about the importance of respect for other organic elements and about the un-sustainability of our actions on the environment. Ignorance on such themes is unfortunately sometimes involuntary because the truth is very well hidden behind fake facades and the vested interests of a small group of powerful organisations.

I had decided not to set any rules for the event because I wasnʼt sure what would have happened, so I made them up during the event. Because nobody came with seeds to swap I set the “I Owe You“rule. Unfortunately only one person gave me some seeds back as promised; thank you Jennifer!

Short-term seed banks

“Garden Organic” is a charity that operates in Coventry running a botanic garden and selling organic seeds for the production of food plants. They run the Heritage Seed Library which functions as a short-term seed bank used to store a limited amount of plant species, especially when compared to large organisations like the Millennium Seed bank) But they provide and independent platform to analyze them, grow them until young little plants, and then sell them to a network of dedicated organic farmers.

“Our Heritage Seed Library (HSL) aims to conserve and make available vegetable varieties that are not widely available. The HSL Department maintains a collection, mainly of European varieties. Over the decades many varieties have been dropped from popular seed catalogues. Our collection contains many of these but also some landraces and a large number of family heirloom varieties that have never been in a catalogue. We are not a seed bank and all our collection, once we have enough seed will become available to our members.”(HYPERLINK "http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk")

Swapping seeds is a valid alternative to commercial marketing techniques but the people that work on these events lack economic resources and dedicated constant organisation. A strong network between farmers, gardeners and seed companies should be created if a positive change in the current situation is to occur, especially if we want to avoid a catastrophic loss of biodiversity in the years to come. Short-term seed banks could represent a big step forward in the safeguarding of soil and plant species biodiversity and a viable attempt to change the way farmersʼ source and supply their seeds. Unfortunately this organisation doesnʼt have the disposal ready of economic resources, as I was informed by the chief executive of Seedy Sunday.

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Francesca GiacosaMA Design and Environment

Goldsmiths University of London2009/2010

I strongly believe something should be done in order to decentralise the control over seeds and food resources, further privatisation of natural resources will destroy both natural biodiversity and agricultural economies.

Scientificresearch centres

Towards the end of this project, after having analysed different realities and met people, groups and organisations that work with seeds, I had the chance of interviewing a member of a research centre that carries out studies on food crops. The Rothamsted Research Centre is located in Harpenden, Hertfordshire and is the leading centre in the United Kingdom and one of the most important research centres in the world for studies on agriculture and food crops. It was born in the 1940s from the interest of the owner of Rothamsted Estate, John Bennet Lawes and his friend a scientist Joseph Henry Gilbert who specialized in seeds and agricultural techniques. Mr. Garry Talbot the Rothamsted Farms Manager, explained the work they carry out at the centre: primarily focusing on research studies focused on pesticides. He said they donʼt work with issues related to the conservation of biodiversity, mainly because they are submitted to regulations and laws that limit the types of seeds they are allowed to use i.e. the ones included on the National List.

“Researchers are not allowed to use seeds that are not on the list. In general farmers can use them but are not aloud to sell them as seeds, they can only sell them as food. For example they can put them on wheat, milling and other things like that.”

At this point of the research I wonder if there is any possible way to save plant varieties from extinction and farmers from bankrupt. It seems hard to avoid centralised control, even more difficult to create a strong network of growers and maybe impossible to save thousands of varieties from extinction. I joined the Seed Guerrilla movement and illegally sowed seeds in flower beds and plant pots around different areas of North London!

I recently read a book called “Lʼuomo che piantava gli alberi” (The man who plants trees), written by Jean Giono and Tullio Pericoli. The protagonist of this book is a man who enjoys his life of solitude on the high western italian Alps. He believes that those mountains lack in natural shelters from sun and wind, so he decides to plant 100 oak tree seeds every year in the abandoned fields surrounding his house. He wants to change the local ecosystem for a cause that he believes is good, but he has to face the difficulties of growing plants that are not indigenous to those steep and cold mountains, thats why only a very small part of the seeds succesfully grows into strong trees. I believe this is a very appropriate example to describe humans selfish and careless attitude towards nature. Unfortunately we now have to face the effects of this attitude that is litterally destroying natural ecosystems and human economies, taking decisional powers off the small farmers and giving it to people whose only interest is the profit they can get from their actions. Unfortunately there is no action that could on its own change the situation, the entire structure of modern agriculture must be broken down and decentralised like it used to be before the creation of patents and regulations. Seeds are living organisms that contain the magic secret of life who without we would have no oxygen to breathe, no soil to till, no crops to cultivate and no animals to farm. They deserve far greater respect, care and attention then we permit them at present, we must stop bending them genetically and un-naturally adapting them to our necessities, because it will have catastrophic ramifications for our own sustainability, future and survival.

The last thing I have to to do now is planting all the seeds I collected over the past three months!

Appendix

Books and Journals

- Vandana Shiva ( ), Soil Not Oil, - Jean Jono and Tullio Pericoli (1996), L’Uomo Che Piantava Gli Alberi, Salani Editore

- Carlo Petrini (2009), Terra Madre: Come Non Farci Mangiare Dal Cibo,

- THREAD (Trade, Human Rights and the Economy: Action upDates), Seeds of Hunger: intellectual property rights on seeds and the human rights response, Backgrounder n°2, May 2009

- Fred Pearce, Saving the Seeds from the Next Green Revolution- Jonathan Foley, The Other Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis in Global Land Use,

- Laliberté Brigitte (1997) , Botanic Garden Seed Banks/Genebanks Worldwide, their Facilities, Collections and Networks , Vol.2 - N°9

- Sarah Novak, When Farming Goes Corporate- Michael A. Gollin (1999), Legal consequences of biopiracy, Nature Biotechnology, Vol. 17

- Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural (2010), Plant Varieties and Seeds Gazette

- Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire - A Plant’s-Eye View of the World

- Phil Howard, Seed Industry Structure 1996-2008

Websites

Biodiversity International (formerly IPGRI): www.biodiversityinternational.orgFood and Agriculture Organisation of the United States www.fao.org

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR): www.cgiar.orgGarden Organic: www.gardenorganic.org.ukMillennium Seed Bank:www.kew.org/visit/millenniumseedbankSeedySunday Organisation: www.seedysunday.orgSlowfood Movement: www.slowfoodfoundation.comTerra Madre Italy: www.terramadre.infoRothamsted Research Institute: www.rothamsted.ac.ukTreehugger: www.treehugger.comThompson & Morgan: www.thompson-morgan.comEden project and Butterfly project, UK: www.edenproject.com - www.butterfly-world.orgThe Botany of Desire: www.pbs.org/thebotanyofdesireOffice of Public Sector Information, UK: www.opsi.gov.ukPrimalSeeds: www.primalseeds.orgBotanic Garden Conservation International: www.bcgi.orgGood Is: www.good.isGuerrilla Gardening: www.guerrillagardening.org/ggseedbombsSeed Savers: www.seedsavers.orgLondon’s Charity Potato Fair and Seed Exchange: www.potatofair.orgNew Scientist: www.newscientist.comDyfi Valley Seed Savers: www.dyfivalleyseedsavers.co.ukAction Bio Science: www.actionbioscience.com

My Research project blog: http://seedvoyageur.blogspot.com