Petition "Raise our forks!"

We are at crossroads for the future of our food:

The EU is currently negotiating new rules for the seed market. The current rules, introduced in the 1960s, promote seeds that were developed for industrial agriculture. Seeds that can be sold together with harmful pesticides and synthetic fertilisers, and grown in monocultures. The agro-industry is pushing for the rules to go even further, outlawing diversity to make both the seed and our food system even more uniform. What we need is exactly the opposite. We need seed laws that secure our right to healthy, diverse and tasty food, by truly enhancing diversity in farmers’ fields and in gardens, supporting local varieties, and respecting farmer’s rights.

Sign our petition to call on EU decision makers to not succumb to the industry's pressure, but to protect and promote crop diversity as well as farmers’ right to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seed!

For a good EU seed law

The new EU seed law proposed by the European Commission in July 2023 threatens the conservation and circulation of crop diversity. It disregards farmers’ right to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds, as enshrined in international law. It is unacceptable.

We call on the European Parliament and Agriculture Ministers to rehaul the EU seed law proposal, and adopt legislation that enables the circulation of diverse seeds, enhances biodiversity, respects farmers’ rights and lays the foundation for a sustainable, resilient and diverse food system:

• The conservation and sustainable use of locally adapted crop diversity is the over-riding priority. According to the UN we have already lost 75% of crop diversity in agriculture. What remains is our lifeline. We will need to protect and utilise the remaining diversity to adapt our food production to more extreme weather conditions and new pests and diseases.
• The human right of farmers and gardeners to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds must be implemented fully. This right is enshrined in Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, as well as in Article 9 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and is binding for the European Union and its Member States.
• The marketing of diverse and locally adapted varieties by regional seed producers must be facilitated. Rules designed to regulate industrial seed production must not be (ab)used to restrict the sale of diverse local varieties and species by artisanal producers. In light of the climate and biodiversity crises, we need to diversify the production of seeds, not further increase our dependency on industrial seed sources. Efforts by the agro-chemical lobby to destroy all alternatives via over-regulation must be resisted!
• Newly approved varieties must not be dependent on pesticides or synthetic fertilisers. To enable farming methods that protect our environment and climate, we need seeds that flourish under organic and/or low-input growing conditions.

   Aegilops (GR)
   Agrolink (BG)
   Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft AbL e.V. (DE)
   ARCHE NOAH (AT)
   ASEED – Action for Solidarity Environment Equality and Diversity (NL)
   Associação Demeter Portugal (PT)
   AVVN samen natuurlijk tuinieren (NL)
   Banya Tanya Foundation (HU)
   BIO AUSTRIA – Verein zur Förderung des Biologischen Landbaus (AT)
   BioForum (BE)
   Biovrt - u skladu s prirodom (HR)
   Boerenforum (BE)
   Bond Beter Leefmilieu (BE)
   Broederlijk Delen (BE)
   Budafoki Kosár Közösség (HU)
   CEEweb for Biodiversity (CEE)
   Dachverband Kulturpflanzen- und Nutztiervielfalt e.V. (DE)
   Demeter Österreich (AT)
   DIE UMWELTBERATUNG (AT)
   Dreschflegel e.V. (DE)
   Fenntartható Térség Foundation (HU)
   Foreningen Frøsamlerne (Danish Seed Savers) (DK)
   Föreningen Sesam (SE)
   Fundación Entretantos (ES)
   Iles de Paix (BE)
   Iniciativa Semínkovna (CZ)
   Interessengemeinschaft Nachbau (DE)
   Irish Seed Savers Association (IE)
   Latvian Permaculture Association (LT)
   Lebende Samen - Living Seeds e.V. Darmstadt (DE)
   Living Seeds Sementes Vivas (PT)
   Maadjas (EE)
   Magház Association (HU)
   ÖBV - Via Campesina Austria (AT)
   Organic Denmark (DK)
   Peliti (GR)
   Permakultura (CS) (CZ)
   ProSpecieRara Deutschland (DE)
   Red de Semillas "Resembrando e Intercambiando" (ES)
   Rete Semi Rurali (IT)
   RMRM – Réseau Meuse-Rhin-Moselle (Greater Region, Benelux)
   SEED – Som fir d'Erhalen an d’Entwécklung vun der Diversitéit (LU)
   Sito Seeds (GR)
   Slow Food Österreich (AT)
   Solidagro (BE)
   Sow Diverse (IE)
   Velt (BE)
   VEN – Verein zur Erhaltung der Nutzpflanzenvielfalt e.V. (DE)
   VERN e.V. - Verein zur Erhaltung und Rekultivierung von Nutzpflanzen (DE)
   Vitale Rassen (BE)
   Voedsel Anders (BE)
   Voedsel Anders Nederland (NL)
   ZMAG – Zelena mreža aktivističkih grupa (HR)