Seeds of Hope – A Network of Living Seed Banks

by Suvi Tiihonen of Keuruu Ecovillage, Finland

When exploring system loops, we discovered a real clarity in the importance of preparing for outer crises through supporting local food production and closed self sustained systems. While we celebrate the many things we already have in place, we also notice our dependence on external seed producers for most of our vegetable seeds in the ecovillage.

We researched the various levels that this could be addressed: from the national level to business, to grassroots. We learned that Finland’s Emergency Supply Agency only stores seeds from a few cereals, pasture grasses, potatoes and some legumes. At the same time, the only Finnish seed producer company (Siementarha), closed due to heavy bureaucracy and fees. Local farmers are not allowed to cultivate from their own seeds, due to strict regulations, though some are doing it exceptionally because of failed harvests from extreme weather conditions. And finally, some small-scale gardeners produce their own seeds, but this is not enough if we face any external crisis impacting transportation.

As a result, most Finnish vegetable seeds are produced outside of Finland, leaving us very vulnerable. Besides the uncertainty of seed-supply in times of crisis, the imported seeds from the big suppliers are accustomed to a very different climate.

We found this information quite alarming and came to realize the importance of local seed production and locally adapted strains of plants.

The vision of living seed banks

We channeled this concern into discussion and created a vision for a network of living seed banks. This would produce seeds from all the essential edible, medical or otherwise useful plants, while also holding and sharing knowledge of plant cultivation and sowing-seed production.

Distinct from today’s world seed banks which are mainly vaults storing a great number of seeds for extended periods of time, in living seed banks the plants are maintained by cultivating them year after year. This enables them to adapt to the local and changing climate, in an evolutionary process together with the people.

We envision living seed banks as resources that any normal citizen can have access to. There could be one in each province so that they are reachable to all people in exceptional times. GEN Finland is currently coordinating the process in cooperation with a couple of other organizations.

We could maintain multiple varieties of each essential plant at the national level with at least one kept at the regional level. Each region would have maintenance farmers and seed bank centers which hold a large variety of local seeds from both annual and perennial plants. These centers can also offer education on cultivating sowing-seeds as well as a range of other skills of sustainable food production.

Living seed banks could be located in ecovillages or other communal spaces which are already working towards sustainable food production. Keuruu Ecovillage has a vision to bring this possibility to life as a living seek bank and learning center so that the knowledge of sustainable lifestyles and resilience can be passed on for the visitors and through courses.

Steps to be taken

In collaboration with GEN Finland, we have identified our goals and next steps:

• Gather information and choose the 100 most important species to begin with.
• Reach out to each region with the possibility of hosting a living seed bank.
• Engage more people in the movement to cultivate and propagate new varieties.

We now have around 50 people who are interested in joining our mission. GEN Finland hired one person with experience cultivating vegetable seeds from her time at Siementarha seed company. She will be a great help for us in organizing the information, coordinating the process and helping to educate people on growing their own sowing-seeds. We have also a preliminary agreement with the founder of Siementarha to arrange in depth educational workshops on the topic.

As a part of the living seed bank network we are creating seed-orchards of multiple varieties of edible and easy-to-utilize nut-trees. The purpose is to produce high quality sowing-seeds and thus enable large scale nut cultivation in the northern climate. So far we have taken different varieties from Juglans, Carya and Castanea families to the process. These varieties are new to our country and the short growing season so first of all a breeding process needs to be done. A selection of only the most adapted and vital trees will be planted to the seed-orchards to ensure the best possible genetics for the coming generations of northern nuts.

The European Union laws may soon change, making it difficult to import nut seeds from other countries. Therefore it is most urgent to get the local seed production established.

Edible trees and other perennial plants are essential for food security. Enabling nut cultivation will help our food production to become more resilient and sustainable in the long term.

GEN and web of living seed banks

Keuruu Ecovillage is committed to this on a local level with GEN Finland taking a big role on the national level. Might there be a need for such a network globally as well? Is the issue of vulnerable local seed production unique to Finland or is this a global trend as well?

We learned that multiple Ecovillages already have seed banks and we see the potential for the ecovillage network to carry on and expand this momentum. We’re curious how we could initiate this collaboration we can initiate globally around that topic. How can we help each other to reach a great diversity of useful plants that survive in our local areas for creating sustainable ecosystems? Are there varieties of plants that might do better in new areas in the future when the climate is changing? Do we need to create an exchange of seeds through GEN networks?

We see a vision where the Global Ecovillage Network supports a huge web of living seedbanks in the ecovillages around the world. In the changing climate we can react by providing seeds for each other if our own native plants suffer. Our dream is that all over the world we can create abundant food systems that support all living beings. May we keep alive the picture of a bright future for humankind on planet earth.

For any possible crisis that hits us, we are growing the seeds of hope.