Code : 727230
Contract Period : 01/06/2017 - 01/09/2021
Project Webpage : http://liveseed.eu/
Main Funder : EU H2020
ORC Staff Contact : Ambrogio Costanzo
EU H2020 research project boosting organic seed and plant breeding across Europe. 35 partners – 18 countries
The objective of this 4-year EU funded project is to improve the performance and sustainability of organic agriculture. Aiming to boost organic seed and plant breeding efforts, and increasing the availability of cultivars adapted to organic growing conditions.
The project will help to establish a level playing field in the organic seed market across Europe, improve the competitiveness of the organic seed and breeding sector, and encourage greater use of organic seeds by farmers. LIVESEED will improve guidelines for cultivar testing and strategies for ensuring seed health. It will develop novel breeding approaches suited for organic farming. Finally, it will investigate socio-economic aspects related to the use and production of organic seed and their interaction with relevant (EU) regulations. The LIVESEED project is coordinated by IFOAM EU and consists of 35 partners from 18 countries.
ORC will lead the socio-economic work-package to identify business and governance models to improve the efficiency of organic seed supply chains in the market place. We will explore:
Alongside this we are drawing together research on the role that heterogenous crops, and breeding
for organic systems, can play in improving the performance of organic agriculture. This will build
upon our experiences marketing the ORC Wakelyns Population and the associated regulatory
framework. We will also undertake traditional and farmer-led variety testing to increase our knowledge
of existing varieties’ performance in organic systems and explore how stakeholders from across the
value chain can be involved in this process and feed into future breeding efforts.
ORC has launched an online survey to investigate farmers’ opinions of, and experience with organic seed and propagation material. The aim of the survey is to help us to understand farmers’ reasons for using/not using organic seed. This is an opportunity for farmers and growers to give honest answers and have a say on policy and research needs in this field. The survey is anonymous and it should take about 15 minutes to answer the questions. Please go to the survey at https://bit.ly/2QT2fUH
Read interview with Kimberley Bell of the Small Food Bakery YQ and the rise of an alternative grain network
How to implement the organic regulation to increase production & use of organic seed
Costanzo A, Bickler C (2019) Proposal for a toolbox for identification and description of organic heterogeneous material. Liveseed D2.8
Winter E, Grovermann C, Aurbacher J, Orsini S, Schäfer F, Lazzaro M, Francesco Solfanelli, Messmer MM (2021). Sow what you sell: strategies for integrating organic breeding and seed production into value chain partnerships. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 1-28, https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2021.1931628
Orsini S, Costanzo A, Solfanelli F, Zanoli R, Padel S, Messmer MM, Winter E, Schaefer F (2020). Factors Affecting the Use of Organic Seed by Organic Farmers in Europe. Sustainability, 12, 8540: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208540
Padel S, Orsini S, Solfanelli F, Zanoli R. Can the Market Deliver 100% Organic Seed and Varieties in Europe? Sustainability. 2021; 13(18):10305. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810305
Costanzo A, Amos D, Bickler C. Trump, A. Agronomic and genetic assessment of organic wheat performance in England: a field-scale cultivar evaluation with a network of farms. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 41, 54 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-021-00706-y
