LiveSeeding

🌱 🔎 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫? As EU Member States prepare to discuss the new Regulation on Plant Reproductive Material, #LiveSeeding has released its 𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟, a timely contribution to the ongoing debate on how EU seed law can better support organic farming. 📜 🌾 The brief highlights key priorities for a fair and consistent framework: ✅ A clear, EU-wide definition of Organic Plant Breeding (OPB) ✅ Adapted DUS and VCU testing extended to more crop species ✅ Accessible OHM notification in all Member States Defining OPB is essential to ensure that new rules on Organic Varieties (OV) and Organic Heterogeneous Material (OHM) truly reflect organic principles and strengthen trust across the sector. 🤝 ➡️ 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 & 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟: https://lnkd.in/d6tAY3gG

🌍 🌾𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧: 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 At the Global Forum of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, our partners, Red de Municipios por la Agroecología, co-organised the session “𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲: 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚, 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞” together with several international partners.🤝 During this session, 📗𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨 – “𝐅𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬” was presented as the main policy outcome of the 1st European Symposium. The Manifesto turns ideas into action, outlining 𝟑𝟐 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬, from supporting local varieties and organic breeding to open-source seed initiatives. 🫘🥗 🌱 It represents a 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 that want to make biodiversity part of their food policies and a decisive step towards resilient and sustainable food systems in Europe.

🥕🧅 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟬𝟬% 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟯𝟳? 🧅🥕 We have asked  Bram Weijland, who coordinates the organic program at Bejo Zaden.   He says: "YES WE CAN" - but only if: ⚠️ farmers are willing to accept that organic seeds are more expensive ⚠️ the goal of 100% #organic #seeds by 2037 is definitely legally binding and derogations are phased out clearly and measurably so that seed producers are encouraged to invest in research and development of organic seeds   About Bejo Zaden: The Dutch family owned company specializes in breeding, producing and selling vegetable seeds for resistant plants with high, healthy and flavourful yields. Bejo offers a large assortment of more than 40 crops and more than 1000 varieties and is active around the globe. For most of their crops, the company has developed varieties suitable for professional organic growers. Today, Bejo offers more than 170 varieties from organic multiplication and is determined to deliver the best varieties suited for organic production. In addition, the company is a pioneer in non-chemical seed treatment, such as water- and steam-treatment.   During the LiveSeeding cross-country exchange on seed supplier's perspective on reaching 100% organic seeds by 2037, Bram gave an 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘀 such as carrots and onions. For biennial crops it takes two years to complete a full life cycle, with the first year focused on bulb growth and the second year for flowering and seed production. For seed producers like Bejo, this means a prolonged period before organic seeds can finally be harvested. With chemical pest and disease control measures being forbidden in organic production, keeping plants healthy for two years to generate organic seeds can be very difficult. Solutions like mixed cultivation where pest predators are attracted by flowers do work, but require extended surface areas, which makes organic seed production less efficient. According to Bram the 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 are: 🥕🧅 Difficulty to find suited isolations without wild varieties in the neighborhood and with minimal contamination risk from conventional fields 🥕 Lack of experienced organic farms who can make this a success 🥕 Problems with embryo damaging bugs which can result in lower usable seed ratio 🧅 Even if you have found a zone with good climate conditions, you  may need to move away from it to spread your production risk   💻 You can watchBram Weijlandd's presentation under the following link: https://lnkd.in/e2PStUi6

🌱 Three days of ideas, discussions and laughter 🤗 - that’s a wrap for the LiveSeeding Annual General Meeting 2025! In Germany, partners came together to: 📆 plan the project’s final year 💡exchange knowledge ✅️ validate results Making sure LiveSeeding’s outcomes are both practical and ready to last beyond the project. These days once again showed the strength of collective work when diverse experiences from across Europe meet around one table 🤝 🌍. We closed the meeting with a visit to Bingenheimer Saatgut AG and the Kultursaat e.V. 🌾, walking through trial plots, exploring the archive of varieties and seeing first-hand the diversity of crops that are shaping the future of organic farming. A heartfelt thank you to our hosts KWS Group, Bingenheimer Saatgut AG and Kultursaat e.V. for welcoming us and sharing their work, knowledge and inspiration. 🤗 We leave inspired and motivated for the final stretch of LiveSeeding, ready to make sure our results will keep growing beyond the project 🌱. #LiveSeeding #AnnualMeeting #OrganicSeeds #ChangeSeedGrowDifference

🌱 Day 2️⃣ of the #LiveSeeding Annual General Meeting 2025! Today was all about turning data and experience into strategy: ✔ We looked at the status of organic seed supply and demand in Europe and brainstormed what needs to happen in the next 10 years to reach 100% organic seed use in the EU. ✔ In group work, partners worked on national strategies for Switzerland, Poland, Portugal and Spain, exploring institutional support, integration into action plans and funding options. ✔ The afternoon focused on validation in Living Labs, where challenges and success factors identified in organic seed and breeding value chains were tested against real experiences. 🌎 😊 The day closed with a forward-looking session on working for impact, keeping the consortium aligned on how to make results last beyond the project.

🌱 Day 2️⃣ of the #LiveSeeding Annual General Meeting has started! This morning’s session focused on the status quo of organic seed supply and demand across Europe, and how to move forward. ➡️ Partners are now in an interactive brainstorming, tackling the big question: 👉 What needs to happen in the next 10 years to achieve 100% organic seed use in the EU? 📸 A glimpse into the brainstorming session.

🌱 From diversity to evaluation ➡ Day 1⃣ of the LiveSeeding Annual General Meeting 2025 was all about strengthening Europe’s seed systems. We collaborated on upcoming deliverables, outreach activities, and business plans, and attended two interactive workshops focused on: 🌱managing quality and diversity in organic heterogeneous material (OHM) seed 🌱analysing cultivar evaluation case-studies and drafting recommendations The lively exchanges brought valuable input for the project’s final year, turning experience and evidence into concrete steps for the future of organic seeds and cultivated biodiversity. 🌾😊 Looking forward to day 2⃣ !

🌱 We are live from Einbeck, Germany! The LiveSeeding Annual General Meeting 2025 has just started. Over the next 3️⃣ days, partners will: ✅️ review the overall progress of the project and the plan towards future ✅️ work on upcoming deliverables ✅️ discuss business models for organic seed networks ✅️ plan the final year’s dissemination and outreach activities ✅️ and more! Stay tuned for highlights from the sessions and field visits! #changeseedgrowdifference

The #LiveSeeding partners have gathered in Einbeck, Germany for our Annual General Meeting 2025! 🤗🌱 We started today with a visit to KWS Group, where they spoke about their work on: ▪️innovations in seed pelleting, ▪️the regulatory challenges ▪️the importance of implementing new biotechnologies in seed development ➡️ Tomorrow we officially open the AGM sessions, working together on the project’s final year and preparing results that will support organic seeds, cultivated biodiversity and resilient food systems across Europe. 🌾✅️ #changeseedgrowdifference

🌱 🌍 Towards 100% organic seed: insights from across Europe Last week, #LiveSeeding partners came together in an online exchange with seed suppliers, the European Commission and Euroseeds to reflect on this question. The discussion made it clear that: ✅ Organic farmland is expanding faster than the supply of organic seed - the gap must be closed ✅ Transparency is key: national derogation reports and databases need to be accessible and comparable ✅ Farmers and seed suppliers need support to plan investments, manage risks, and scale up multiplication ✅ No "one-size fits all" solution exists - solutions must be tailored to specific crops and local contexts 🎥 The full recording is now online: https://lnkd.in/dCkdeZ79