ABSTRACT

Seed varieties have declined significantly since the beginning of time. First, with plant domestication and now, increasingly, through homogenization, industrialization, privatization, and commodification of our seed stock. Independent groups are currently working as private protectors of genetic diversity1 by cultivating endangered varieties in their home gardens, sharing seeds with other seed savers, but also lobbying the European Union to make sure that a new proposal for seed marketing regulation2 will promote agricultural biodiversity, small-farmers’ rights, global food security, and consumer choices.