Seed Savers Forum

Attended:

Written or verbal input was also received from:

Dear Fellow Seed Savers,

From discussions at the Soil & Health Conference in Auckland, the Seed Savers Forum in Golden Bay and including consultation with bio-regional seed saver groups, interested individuals, groups and seed companies who were unable to attend these two events, there is strong support for the strengthening of links between seed savers nationally and for the development of a national 'Seed Register'.

Discussions are now focused on how to achieve this and a proposed strategy has been developed, which we now offer for consideration and initial feedback to all those interested. There will be another Forum in the Nelson province on Saturday 12th August (venue and details to be advised) to develop this initiative further. Anyone is welcome to attend.

Proposed Name

Seed Savers Aotearoa NZ.

Fundamental Aim

To maintain and strengthen the bio-diversity of open pollinated, non-genetically engineered plant varieties in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
The focus to start with will be on food bearing plants, herbs and flowers.

Structure

A group comprising members of the Golden Bay Seed Exchange & Waimarama Permaculture Seed Exchange, to be called "Top of the South" Seed Savers, has offered to facilitate the establishment of Seed Savers Aotearoa NZ.

It was strongly felt that any structure created should be designed so that it strengthened bio-regional groups and allowed for coordination where needed on a national level.

The following diagram is offered to help express the type of framework envisioned:

Structure of Seed Savers Aotearoa New Zealand

Proposed Members

Decision Making

The initiating group wants to involve all interested groups in the decision making. It is hoped the Website may help this. Do groups want a formal voting system for major decisions at this stage? And if so, how do people want decisions to be made - consensus or 2/3 majority or 50% majority?

It was the consensus of the forum that at this stage there was no need for a separate legal entity, but this may need to be reviewed in the future. However it was decided to look for an existing organization to be an "umbrella" to enable us to access funding soon. Some possibilities will be explored over the next month and any suggestions would be appreciated.

Proposed Activities and who has offered their help

Current Priorities

Supporting communication between all involved and co-ordination of the next Forum. This will be done by the "Top of the South" Seed Savers, in particular John Massey (john@seedsavers.org.nz) & Sol Morgan (solmadara@yahoo.com).

To establish the seed register of plant varieties held in seed banks throughout New Zealand and develop an associated web site. Roy Shackleton (roy@seedsavers.org.nz) of Waiheke Seed Savers has already established a website www.seedsavers.org.nz which he has offered to be used. He has also offered his time and expertise to help establish the database for the Seed Register. A sub group comprising Roy, Iris Huebler, Swani Harris and Colin Walker has been formed to design the database for consideration at the August Forum.

If you also wish to be involved in this please contact Iris by email at iris@seedsavers.org.nz or by letter at RD 1, Collingwood. To help with this we ask all with seed banks that wish to be included to inform Iris.

  1. The number of plant varieties being held.
  2. In what format the database exists ie. on index cards or computerised and what program is being used.
  3. What financial support (if any) would you require to assist in uploading info onto website database?

To investigate funding options for these activities. A range of possible Government and private funding sources were indentifed that may now be available to projects of this nature. It was decided that Top of the South Seed Savers would investigate which of these are most promising and report back to the next Forum. If you have any ideas in this area please contact John Massey.

One option suggested is that anybody who offers seed for sale through the Website database pays a fee, but for those who offer their seed free for exchange there be no charge.

Some groups were concerned that funds should not be raised at the expense of bio-regional needs, while others were happy about making a financial contribution. It would be helpful if all bio-regional groups and other interested parties would indicate how much, if any, they feel to contribute to this initiative directly through a membership fee or donation.

Other activites that were discussed at the forum:

  1. Publicity for this initiative - It was decided to leave this until the next Forum
  2. Education - The prototype for a childrens booklet on seed saving, by Robina McCurdy, was shared and ideas were explored for how this could be developed further.
  3. Advocacy - It was felt important to bring to everyone's attention The Royal Commission on Genetic Engineering and the critical importance of seeds in this debate. Has your group considered making a submission? If you are interested please contact your local Green Party for advice and support on how to do this.
  4. Links with overseas seed savers groups - Kay Baxter was given a mandate at the Soil & Health Conference (and endorsed at the Forum) to represent New Zealand seed savers when she travels in July on a Winston Churchill Scholarship to visit seed saver organisations in the USA. Top of the South seed savers are also in communication with the Seed Savers Network in Australia.
  5. Research and Traditional Plant Breeding - there was strong interest in this area and Swani Harris has offered to facilitate a group of people interested in this area. So anyone wishing to work with others in this area please contact Swani (swani@seedsavers.org.nz)

In conclusion

Those of us who have gathered here feel that the now is the right time to coordinate and strengthen seed saving on a national level. We look foward to everyone's feedback and we hope to see you at the Forum on August 12th.

Please send your general feedback and comments to:
"Top of the South" Seed Savers
Contact: John Massey
Email: john@seedsavers.org.nz
Phone: 0-3-546 7098
Post: 45A Washington Rd, Nelson

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Seed Savers Aotearoa New Zealand
www.seedsavers.org.nz