Seeds of Resistance:
Reclaim the Seeds 2024
On March 15th, the Reclaim the Seeds Festival kicks off with a knowledge-packed program, ranging from seed exchanges, workshops, and lectures to live music and soul-warming snacks. Located at the Fruittuin van West, an organic farm and garden, Reclaim the Seeds is organized with the help of ASEED, Cityplot, and a team of enthusiastic volunteers.
Seeds are the foundation of all life on Earth, holding immense social, cultural, and political importance. Throughout history, seed keepers and farmers have cultivated, selected, saved, and exchanged seeds, creating an array of crops adapted to local environments. “The process of planting a seed and watching it germinate, grow, and produce something beautiful and delicious, and saving the seeds to replant the next season never ceases to amaze me,” says Ann Doherty, a member of Cityplot - a collective of urban farmers, teachers, and activists. Centuries of passionate work have led to a rich seed culture and food legacy. However, over the last century, we have lost 94% of our seed varieties. The emergence of industrial farming models has eroded this rich seed culture, viewing seeds as a form of currency and control.
According to current EU seed legislation, farmers are only allowed to sell or exchange their seeds in smaller quantities under specific conditions, restricting agriculture and crop diversity. Public gene banks, private collections, and seed initiatives are no longer allowed to give their seeds to farmers. The regulations categorize any seed transfer outside of the private sphere as “marketing,” subjecting it to strict bureaucratic requirements. Such regulations endanger the work of seed initiatives, gene banks, and farmer networks across Europe dedicated to preserving genetic diversity, limiting the free exchange of seeds, and forcing farmers into a cycle of dependency on agricultural industry giants. Arche Noah and similar campaigns are opposing such legislation through a petition advocating for laws to protect seed diversity and farmers’ rights.
Reclaim The Seeds is an annual free, donation-based event, launched as a form of protest against protective EU seed legislation. Established in 2010, Reclaim the Seeds was created to raise awareness of the increasing threats to a sustainable and socially just food system, and has been organized in different locations around the Netherlands and Belgium ever since. This initial goal has expanded as the challenges farmers face have moved to property rights issues, and seed and crop patents, as the agricultural system becomes industry-dependent with new biotechnologies appearing every year.
Corporate control crushes farmers’ autonomy, independence, and rights as they are unable to save the seeds produced by genetically modified crops.
The advent of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) further complicates the seed landscape. Since their commercial availability in the mid-1990s, the USA, Brazil, Argentina, India, and Canada have become major users of GMO technology. Genetically modified crops have brought the dawn of seed patents and restrictions on seed purchase, exchange, and replanting, leading to corporate surveillance of farmers. Power imbalances are evident, with the ten largest companies controlling 70% of the market. These same corporations maintain control by manufacturing the fertilizers and insecticides their genetically modified seeds have grown dependent on.
According to Doherty, corporate seed companies have significantly diminished a vast portion of the Earth’s seed diversity in recent decades “through tactics including the patenting of seeds, and manipulating them so that they can’t be reproduced, and even prosecuting farmers who save their own seeds,” she adds, “and of course, seed saving is free, and allows farmers and even small-scale gardeners to operate outside the control of profit-oriented seed corporations.” Corporate control crushes farmers’ autonomy, independence, and rights as they are unable to save the seeds produced by genetically modified crops. As a result, treasured seed practices fall away as farmers give in to large corporations, depleting seed diversity and generations’ worth of devotion.
Despite producing enough food for three billion more people than the current global population, narratives advocating for high-tech and high-yield industrial farming as the sole solution to global food needs prevail. Monocultures - single crop cultivation - deplete the genetic diversity found in seed banks and local farming communities. “As a small-scale agroecological farmer, I know how essential seed saving is for a variety of reasons: adaptation to local growing conditions, providing resilience in the face of climate change, and of course preserving special varieties and the cultures connected with them,” says Doherty. Genetic biodiversity has been proven to be resilient to environmental shocks and helps shape a more robust food system. The shift in the seed landscape raises concerns about the future of agricultural autonomy and biodiversity, threatening the future of our food.
Reclaim The Seeds, like many farmers and consumers, is challenging this view and exploring potential alternatives through innovative, low-tech solutions. On March 16th and 17th, at Reclaim The Seeds, get ready to dive into the world of socially just agriculture and seed sovereignty. From discussions of seeds through an anti-capitalist lens led by Marc Siepman, to exploring regenerative potting soil with Klarien Klingen, there’s something for everyone. “There will be films, music, a campfire, and that beautiful buzz that is created when seed lovers get together,” says Doherty. At Reclaim The Seeds, you can question where your food comes from while exploring the Traveling Farm Museum, join us on a foraging walk, and come to the mushroom and chicory workshop by our hosts Fruittuin van West. Reclaim The Seeds invites you - professionals, activists, and skeptics alike - to rekindle a lost connection with our most precious source: seeds, and challenge current agricultural corporations’ hold on farmers.
Can’t wait until March 16th? Join us for upcoming fundraising events and follow our Instagram for the latest updates. If you’re interested in volunteering at Reclaim The Seeds 2024, we will need volunteers on March 15th, for the festival setup, and on Saturday and Sunday, the 16th & 17th. We need helping hands for various tasks including kitchen assistance, workshop hosting, and guest welcoming, and there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy the festival while lending a hand! By joining our volunteer team, you’ll learn about and be part of creating a more just and sustainable food system while connecting with like-minded individuals at this vibrant, community-driven event.
More info
www.reclaimtheseeds-amsterdam.nl