Seed Savers Aotearoa New Zealand (SSANZ) facilitates the sharing of information and resources between regional seed saving groups.
The concept of a Seed Savers Network was first discussed at the Seed Savers Workshop held as part of the Soil & Health Organics 2020 Conference in Auckland on May 19-20 2000. The workshop produced a draft list of objectives to be achieved.
The first Seed Savers Forum was held on the 16-18 June 2000 at the Golden Bay Community Gardens, Takaka, Nelson Province. The forum discussed the creation of a national Seed Savers Network to connect home garden seed savers and small seed exchanges. It was proposed that the aim of the national seed saving organisation would be to maintain and strengthen the bio-diversity of open pollinated, non-genetically engineered plant varieties in New Zealand. The initial focus would be on food bearing plants, herbs and flowers.
It was decided that the structure created should be designed so that it strengthened bio-regional groups and allowed for co-ordination where needed on a national level. The following diagram shows the type of framework envisioned:
The network will be comprised of:
A national seed register is being established to record the plant varieties held in seed banks throughout New Zealand. This information will be made available on the Seed Savers Web Site.
