Each year, we are swiftly awoken from our midwinter hibernation by the vibrant life force that is the Oxford Real Farming Conference. With 150 sessions bringing over 3,300 participants together for the future of agroecology, these two days amid the stillness of early January are a moment to behold for food sovereignty.
This year marked the second of what we hope to become a long-standing tradition at the conference: the Seed Sovereignty Programme Seed Share. Taking place in the Main Hall, hundreds of farmers, growers, and window-sill sowers gathered to swap locally-grown open-pollinated seeds and their stories, ancient and new.
Adorned with seeds from each region of the UK, the five long tables bear an important responsibility – to place seed at the heart of the Oxford Real Farming Conference, as it is for our entire food system. Often an overlooked ‘fringe’ topic in discussions of solutions for the future of food and farming, we are proud to see more conversations around seed sovereignty taking place, both within and beyond the programmed sessions.
By hosting the seed swap, not only do we hope to increase the diversity and resilience of fields, gardens, and plates across these isles, we hope to keep the time-honoured traditions of our ancestors alive, inspiring the practices of saving and sharing seed to be replicated in allotments and city streets alike. We know the power our wonderful grassroots network holds to rebuild our connection with food, the land, and each other!
It was a joy to work with incredible illustrator, Frances Whitfield, to design the second in our series of specially-commissioned artist seed packets. As a permaculture gardener herself, Frances’s work is known for being rich with the beauty of the living world. Nested in pockets and rucksacks, the gorgeous deep orange packets kept swapped treasures safe, ready to be sown in soils across the UK and beyond.
The brilliant Holly Silvester, our Future Resilience Seed Coordinator, kept seed on everyone’s lips ahead of the closing plenary, contributing to an insightful session on rebuilding local seed production and breeding networks, chaired by ‘seed detective’ Adam Alexander on Friday afternoon. The session filled up long before it was due to start, and it was great to hear so many engaged questions from the audience relating to Holly’s work on the Crowd Breeding project.
Many of the graduates from our 2024 Year-Long Training also appeared on panels across the two days. It was beautiful to see them so involved in leading the larger network.
After some slightly hairy journeys home amidst Storm Goretti, all of us who attended have been busily reflecting on the connections and stories collected at the seed swap, alongside all we learnt from the fantastic array of sessions on offer. We are already looking forward to next year!
