seed swap

Swapping seeds is of great cultural significance for many of the people involved, because it allows a culture which has become widely distributed, such as Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States, to continue to grow the food they are accustomed to, foods which often have great significance, and for which seeds are often transported over great distances. Mike Szuberla, organizer of a seed swap in Toledo, Ohio, noted, "Seeds are, in a sense, suitcases in which people can transport their cultures with them... Many families have brought their favorite seeds on tremendous journeys."{{cite news |last=Lane |first=Tahree |title=Good to grow: Annual seed swap is a kind of cultural exchange program |work=The Blade |date=24 February 2006 |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13340141_ITM |access-date=29 May 2009}}

In some cases seed swaps are annual events and function as community celebrations (comparable to potlucks),{{cite book |last1=Flores |first1=H.C. |last2=Holmstrom |first2=Jackie |last3=Hemenway |first3=Toby |title=Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community |publisher=Chelsea Green |date=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_DtwznYASwC |isbn=978-1-933392-07-3}}{{rp|158}} such as the annual seed swap (in its eleventh year in 2008) on the Oglethorpe farm near Athens, Georgia, organized by two anthropology professors from the University of Georgia (the university has a seedbank, the "Southern Seed Legacy"). Participants share seeds of heirloom fruits and vegetables grown in their families or communities for generations; for some, the goal of such swaps is to preserve a "dying" heritage.{{cite news |author= |title=Seed swap continues tradition on Oglethorpe farm |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=2002-05-06 |url=http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/050602/hga_20020506001.shtml |access-date=2009-05-29}} A similar goal is stated for a seed swap in Devon, England, where the North Devon Seed Swap has been held since 1 February 2004.{{cite web|title=North Devon Seed Swap 1st February 2004 |publisher=Permaculture Association (Britain) |url=http://www.permaculture.org.uk/mm.asp?nolinks=y&mmfile=news_seedswap |access-date=2009-05-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925164408/http://www.permaculture.org.uk/mm.asp?nolinks=y&mmfile=news_seedswap |archive-date=25 September 2006}}{{cite news |author= |title=Seed swap aims to keep diversity of vegetables |work=Western Daily Press |date=16 February 2007 |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-29662952_ITM |access-date=29 May 2009}}

The Dixon Community Seed Exchange, in Dixon, New Mexico, has been taking place annually since 2003. It distributes free seed of homegrown and commercial varieties as available and also provides a forum for the exchange of varieties peculiar to the high mountain areas of northern New Mexico. It attracts several hundred participants and photos may be viewed at its website.[http://www.talondegato.com/talondegato/Seed_Exchange.html Talon de Gato Farm]

A distinct and less public kind of seed swap involves the seeds of marijuana.{{cite book |last=Preston |first=Brian |title=Pot Planet: Adventures in Global Marijuana Culture |publisher=Grove Press |date=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hsfCjIpRXb0C |isbn=978-0-8021-3897-2}}{{rp|103–104}}{{cite book |last=Green |first=Greg |title=The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use |publisher=Green Candy Press |date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eQg9Bxb2D8UC |isbn=978-1-931160-17-9}}{{rp|291–292}}

Some seed swaps explicitly have a biological goal—usually either educating the public in organic gardening or the attempt to maintain crop diversity. The larger global relevance and beneficial long-range effects of ecological farming sustained by seed swaps, and the effects of such practices in countering the effects of agrichemical monoculture, are beginning to be studied.{{cite book |last=McMichael |first=Philip |title=Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective |publisher=Pine Forge Press |date=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m7XigsBpSV0C |isbn=978-1-4129-5592-8}}{{rp|201}}

The European Court of Justice ruled in 2012 that farmers in the European Union are allowed under restricted circumstances to both produce and market seeds from plant varieties that are not officially registered and approved. Sale of such seeds could not be categorically prohibited on the basis of an existing EU guideline on seed registering. The corporation Graines Baumax had taken the domestic farmers' network Kokopelli to court and demanded €50,000 (US$61,000).{{cite web|title=European court rules on trade in non-approved seeds|url=http://www.dw.de/european-court-rules-on-trade-in-non-approved-seeds/a-16090272|date=12 July 2012|access-date=19 February 2013|publisher=dw.de}} Kokopelli won this case.{{cite web|title=Procès Kokopelli c. Graines Baumaux : Après presque 10 ans de procédure, la Cour d'Appel de Nancy donne enfin raison à Kokopelli !|url=http://blog.kokopelli-semences.fr/2014/09/proces-kokopelli-c-graines-baumaux-apres-presque-10-ans-de-procedure-la-cour-dappel-de-nancy-donne-enfin-raison-a-kokopelli/|date=18 September 2014|access-date=8 January 2015|publisher=kokopelli-semences.fr}}

France has the most strict implementation of the seed laws.{{cite web|title=GRAIN — Seed laws in Europe: locking farmers out|url=http://www.grain.org/article/entries/541-seed-laws-in-europe-locking-farmers-out|access-date=19 February 2013|publisher=grain.org}}

Indications in 2011 is that even more restrictions are on their way.{{cite web|title=New EU Seed Law: "all power to the multinationals"|url=http://www.seed-sovereignty.org/PDF/New_EU_Seed_Law_EDH_111206_EN.pdf|date=23 March 2012|access-date=19 February 2013|publisher=seed-sovereignty.org}}{{update inline|date=October 2022}} The European Parliament rejected the European Commission's proposal for plant reproductive material law, also known as the "seed regulation" in 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140307IPR38202/html/MEPs-reject-draft-seed-regulation|title=MEPs reject draft seed regulation|website=europarl.europa.eu

|date=11 March 2014|access-date=8 January 2015|publisher=European Parliament}}{{cite web|title=The Commissions proposal for a seed regulation is politically dead|url=http://www.seed-sovereignty.org/EN/|date=11 March 2014|access-date=8 January 2015|publisher=seed-sovereignty.org}}

{{Portal|Gardening}}

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• Community gardening
• Crop diversity
• Food swap
• Gift economy
• Organic gardening
• Seedbank
• Seed library
• Seed saving

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Category:Food sovereignty

Category:Gardening

Category:Seeds