Join us in raising £20,000 to increase seed diversity for climate resilience this #SeedWeek, with every donation doubled between 22 – 29 April ➡️ Click to donate or share with your network.
For the second day of #SeedWeek, we’re hearing from Scotland Coordinators, Louise and Tom, on the emergent communities sprouting from seed work across Scotland. By working with seed, this tight network has forged the ability to look forward, even in trying times. They have restored a relationship with local land. And they have laid the foundations for a population as resilient to climactic changes as the seeds they sow each season.
With seed, from one comes many. And when working with seed, this pattern is contagious. The abundant bounties of seed produced from each crop generate the perfect conditions for sharing, giving, binding. The many stages of seed production – growing, harvesting, processing – cannot be undertaken alone. Seed production germinates hyper-local supply chains, connected communities, and hope-filled individuals eager to exchange seeds, spread wisdom, share homegrown meals.
We know we are stronger when we work together. And in these times of polycrisis, strength has never been so important. And thus, neither has community. Community holds us. It provides us with a sense of belonging. Community cares for us and in doing so enables us to care; for each other and for the more-than-human friends, foliage, and lifeforms around us. Cooperation with others empowers and enables us to take actions far greater than we can achieve as isolated individuals. Change comes from many.
From the moment the Seed Sovereignty Programme first took root, our focus has been supporting and expanding seed growing in the UK and Ireland. It has become clear that, when people are supported to produce seed, they naturally go on to grow regional seed sharing networks. By providing foundational skills, then supporting those networks to connect and evolve, we create the conditions for more to emerge.
Once practiced on every farm, in every garden across these isles, the past hundred years has seen seed-saving become an almost lost art form. Seed has transitioned from a part of every farm’s ecosystem to an input bought each year from an increasingly centralised and monopolised seed industry. To put seeds back in the hands of communities, the Seed Sovereignty Programme has retrained hundreds of farmers and growers in seed production since 2019. Each year has seen wonderful collections of people drawn together by the power of seed. And, beautifully reflecting the abundant seeds they work with, new connections fostered during these courses quickly bloom into rich collaborations and thriving networks, reaching far beyond those we work with directly.
In Scotland, a community of seed growers emerged from connections formed between members of the very first cohort of seed trainees in the country. Born from a desire to see the return of seed growing to Scottish farms, the Scottish Seed Hub has been building a community of commercial growers wanting to expand into seed production. Members from across Scotland are supporting one another to develop their seed saving skills and share crops and varieties suited to the Scottish climate. Emerging alongside and in partnership with the work of the hub, Seeds of Scotland – the first Scottish seed company since the early 1980s – was founded by Haley and Finlay, Seed Sovereignty Programme training graduates and members of the Scottish Seed Hub.
Seeds of Scotland are developing a catalogue of Scottish heritage and modern varieties as well as northerly adapted crops from other parts of the world. As their seed farm and business grows they are utilising the existing connections between Seeds of Scotland the Scottish Seed Hub to contract out seed growing, supporting even more Scottish farms to grow seed and get paid for doing so, whilst distributing risk and harnessing the special knowledge and ecologies present on each member farm. Just as seed needs diversity to thrive, so too does the seed movement need diversity and a growing population of seed stewards working together, to share in both the risks and the joys of the work. Operating so collaboratively, these two initiatives can more readily explore which varieties of seed are most suited to particular farms for seed crops, while identifying different varieties to trial and share with each other.
In a continuation of this unfolding network of people, early shoots of breeding work are beginning to crop up to address gaps in seed supply as desirable characteristics for Scottish growing are identified. Varieties such as early maturing paprika peppers or wind tolerant climbing drying beans can help build a more resilient Scottish network of seed and their guardians. The diversity of the seed growing community is also reflected in the diversity of the communities that support our farms and growing spaces. One example being the Granton Gourd, a shark-fin squash originating from the South-East Asian community in Edinburgh, stewarded by allotmenteers in Granton, Edinburgh for years, and now grown at Lauriston Agroecology Farm. Through the Seed Hub this delicious gourd has been shared amongst growers throughout Scotland where it thrives thanks to years of climatic adaptation and the care of many hands.
From focused trainings with small numbers of Scottish growers each year, has sprouted an interconnected unity of people working together to build climate resilience across the country. Beyond the vital work happening with seed in Scotland, this strong and active community have built hope for the future and the ability to look forward, even in trying times. They have rebuilt a relationship with local land. And they have laid the foundations for a population as resilient to climatic changes as the seeds they sow each season.
Support more tightly bound communities to sprout by doubling your donation to seed between 22 – 29 April.
