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Organic seed and plant breeding to accelerate sustainable and diverse food systems in Europe

Abstract

Seeds are the foundation of farming, thus we must ensure that organic seeds are available to farmers. However, appropriate organic seeds and cultivars are lacking. The organic seed market in Europe is still underdeveloped, due to unsolved technical and socio-economic problems and to limited capacity for breeding locally adapted cultivars suited for organic farming conditions.

LiveSeeding aims to accelerate organic farming and transition towards sustainable food systems by

  1. boosting organic plant breeding, cultivar testing and seed production resulting in improved availability of vigorous organic seed of resilient and stable performing cultivars suited for organic production of a large range of crops and
  2. strengthening the organic seed sector taking into account the fast growing demand, regulatory settings, different level of development, governance models and scales of initiatives and enterprises in their local context.
Detailed Description

LiveSeeding is a 4-year Innovation Action focusing on technology transfer and market uptake.

The overall objective of LiveSeeding is to facilitate the delivery on the market of high-diversity cultivars for a wide range of crops, as basis for quality organic seed production to foster more sustainable food systems.

LiveSeeding will:

  • Increase and optimize crop diversity to be used in organic farming systems
  • Advance pre- and post-registration cultivar testing dedicated to organic farming
  • Increase supply of organic Plant Reproductive Material
  • Enable a transparent organic seed market
  • Ensure efficient scaling out and scaling up of organic seed and breeding initiatives
  • Promote organic breeding supported by market and society
  • Improve skills and knowledge creation
  • Promote competitiveness of the organic seed and breeding sector

LiveSeeding adopts a robust multi-actor approach involving partners from all the major actor groups. These actors will be integrated through 17 Living Labs (LLs), where innovation will be co-created, and an innovative ICT based citizen-science methodology will be applied.

LiveSeeding addresses the complexity of the current lock-ins of the organic breeding and seed sector, through a multi-faceted “PUSH-PULL-ENABLE” model aiming to

  1. enhance the availability and adequacy of organic seeds of cultivars appropriate to organic farming (PUSH),
  2. increase and stabilise the market demand for organic seeds of cultivars appropriate to organic farming (PULL),
  3. foster an enabling policy and regulatory environment where both demand and supply can harmoniously and productively negotiate without irrelevant constraints due to legal restrictions and/or regulatory fragmentation (ENABLE).
Project resultsPublications on Organic Eprints
Financing/ Donor
  • European Commission
  • Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)
  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
(Research) Program
  • State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)
  • European Commission, Horizon Europe
Project partners
  • FiBL Europe (Research Institute for Organic Agriculture) - Project coordination
  • FiBL Switzerland (Research Institute for Organic Agriculture) - Scientific and innovation management
  • Kmetijski Institut Slovenije - Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (KIS)
  • Institut Technique de l’Agriculture Biologique, France (ITAB)
  • Ökológiai Mezőgazdasági Kutatóintézet, Hungary (ÖMKI)
  • Red de Ciudades por la Agroecologia, Spain (RCxAe)
  • IPS konzalting, Croatia (IPS)
  • Institut National de Recherche pour l'agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, France (INRAE)
  • FiBL Germany (Research Institute for Organic Agriculture)
  • International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, European Union regional group (IFOAM EU)
  • Stichting Wageningen Research, The Netherlands (WR)
  • Living seeds - Sementes Vivas, Portugal (LSSV)
  • Rete Semi Rurali, Italy (RSR)
  • Arcoiris Srl, Italy (ARC)
  • Bingenheimer Saatgut AG, Germany (BSAG)
  • Diktyo Gia Tin Viopoikilotita Kai Tin Oikologia Sti Georgia, Greece (AEGILOPS)
  • Stichting Louis Bolk Instituut, the Netherlands (LBI)
  • Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria, Italy (CREA)
  • Dottenfelder Bio-Saat GmbH, Germany (DFH)
  • Groupe d'Etude et de contrôle des Variétes et des Semences, France (GEVES)
  • Institutul National De Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricola Fundulea, Romania (NARDI)
  • Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain (UPV)
  • Coordination europeenne: Liberons la diversite, Italy (ECLLD)
  • Raziskovalna Genetika in Agrokemija, Slovenia (RGA)
  • Kostakis Georgios, Greece (OIKOS)
  • Aedit s.r.l, Italy
  • Instituto Politecnico de Coimbra, Portugal (IPC)
  • Centralny Osrodek Badania Odmian Roslin Uprawnych, Poland (COBORU)
  • Poznanska Hodowla Roslin Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia, Poland (PHR)
  • Polska Izba Nasienna, Poland (PIN)
  • Federazione Italiana Agricoltura Biologica e Biodinamica, Italy (FederBio)
  • La Unio de Llauradors i Ramaders del Pais Valencià, Spain (UNIO)
  • ProSpecieRara, Switzerland
  • Progressive Farming Trust Ltd. trading, United Kingdom
  • Organic Arable Market Company Limited, United Kingdom
  • KWS Saat SE & Co. KGaA, Germany
Project Advisory Board
  • Micaela Colley (Organic Seed Alliance, USA)
  • Marcos Lana (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE)
  • Maria Rosa Mondardini (Citizen Science Center Zurich, CH)
  • Peijpin Schreinemakers (World Vegetable Center, TW)
  • Edwin Nuijten (Seeding Transition, NL)
  • Jean-Marc Audergon (INRAE, Avignon), Scientific coordinator of InnoBreed (Horizon Europe funded project) 
FiBL project leader/ contact
FiBL project staff (people who are not linked are former FiBL employees)
Role of FiBL

Project coordination, Scientific coordination, work package leader

Further information
Group/ Work area/ Location
Themes
FiBL project number 25122
Date modified 23.09.2024
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