The dates for Reclaim the Seeds in 2026
At the moment, various locations in the Netherlands and Flanders are busy organising Reclaim the Seeds seed fairs. The following locations and corresponding dates have already been confirmed:
Sunday February 8
Zadenfest 2026 – Sowing, Exchanging, Harvesting
Location: De Vroente Kalmthout, Putsesteenweg 129, Kalmthout (BE)
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Programme (in Dutch):
10.30 – 11.30: Lecture by Koen Van de Mierhoop – The importance of growing your own seeds.
12.00 – 13.00: Lunch break with free visit to De Vroente visitor centre or walk in the Kalmthoutse Heide. Packed lunches allowed, soup and drinks available.
13.00 – 16.00: Seed exchange fair with an extensive range, including more than 100 tomato varieties. Seed cleaning workshop by Lieven David.
No commercial sales, only exchanges or voluntary contributions. The day is organised by the Zadenwerkgroep van Velt.
Admission: Velt members €2, standard price €2.50.
More information at https://velt.nu/activiteit/zadenfest-2026-zaaien-ruilen-oogsten
Saturday March 7
Reclaim the Seeds – Oedelem
Location: Land- en Tuinbouwinstituut, Bruggestraat 190, Oedelem (BE)
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
A fair organised by Velt West-Vlaanderen with organic seeds, tubers and cuttings. Objective: to strengthen biodiversity and draw attention to threats posed by large companies.
Admission fee: Velt members €5, standard price €7, children under 12 free.
More information on https://velt.nu/reclaimtheseeds
Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 March
Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam
Location: Fruittuin van West, Tom Schreursweg 48, Amsterdam (NL)
Time: 11:00 - 17:00 (subject to change)
Every year, Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam organises a festival that combines seed and information exchange with discussions on political topics, practical workshops, and lectures on topics related to seeds and sustainability.
Admission fee: a donation.
More information on https://reclaimtheseeds-amsterdam.nl
Sunday March 15
De Kempen Kiemt 2026
Location: Ecocentrum De Goren, Postelsesteenweg 71, Mol
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Third edition of this large seed and plant fair. Activities: exchange and purchase seeds and plants, lectures, market with various stallholders, walks in the nature reserves of the Kempen.
Admission fee: Velt members €2, standard price €2. Accessible to children and wheelchair users.
More information on https://velt.nu/activiteit/de-kempen-kiemt-2026
Sunday March 21
Noordelijke Zadenmarkt: Proef en beleef lokaal ErfGoud
Location: Op Maarhuizen, Maarhuizen 3, 9951 TB Winsum (Groningen)
Time: 11:00 - 16:00
On Saturday 21 March 2026, the ninth edition of the Northern Seed Market will take place in and around the historic Enne Jans Heerd farm on the Wierde van Maarhuizen in Winsum. In the beautifully renovated barns, various stallholders will once again be offering their seeds, tubers and special edible plants for sale. There will also be a varied and inspiring programme of workshops and lectures.
The theme for this year's seed market is ‘Proef en beleef lokaal ErfGoud’ (Taste and experience local heritage gold). Visitors will be introduced to old Northern Dutch (heritage) varieties and crops (vegetables, beans, grains, potatoes), and will also get to try them out for themselves through (cooking) workshops and tastings. Old varieties and crops have a rich and unique flavour and are good for 'the soil, the stomach and the bees'.
Het Noordelijk Zadennetwerk (the Northern Seed Network) is a network of growers and producers that aims to promote the use and preservation of historical and regional seeds. This year, de Noordelijke Zadenmarkt is once again being organised with the Stichting Groningen Voedseltuinen. This foundation helps gardeners, municipalities and residents to set up and run food gardens in their neighbourhoods, villages or towns in the province of Groningen.
Admission fee: £2 per person (children under 12 free).
Want to stay up to date? Keep an eye on the website from the Noordelijk Zadennetwerk. Here you can also find out how to get there by bus, bicycle or car.
Sunday March 22
Seedfair Hof van Wezel
Location: In and around the Wielewaal on the Hof van Wezel, Ficarystraat 11 in Beuningen.
Time: from 13:00 on
The annual seed exchange market will once again take place at the Hof van Wezel recreational farm in Beuningen. The market offers an opportunity to give away, exchange or sell seeds, tubers and cuttings. There will also be a programme of workshops, presentations and documentaries on gardening, agriculture, food, animals, eco-technology and reuse.
This year's topics include sprouting vegetables, fermentation, natural chicken farming, woven hedges and solar panels. There will also be sustainable crafts and bread baking in the wood-fired oven. Soup is available for a donation and the bar is open (please note: bankcards are not accepted).
Admission is free. Parking is available, but please come by bicycle!
Sunday March 28
Reclaim the Seeds Nijmegen - Kruisbestuiving
Location: Ecodorp Zuiderveld, Alfred Hitchcockstraat 42, Nijmegen (Lent)
Time: 11:00 - 20:00
Reclaim the Seeds Nijmegen is cross-pollinating! Come to Ecodorp Zuiderveld on Saturday 28 March 2025 for the anniversary edition of Reclaim the Seeds Nijmegen, featuring another seed exchange market, workshops, lectures, music and art.
This year's seed festival is organised around the theme of “Cross-pollination”. There will be several stalls where you can exchange or buy seeds, as well as other stalls selling plants, fermented vegetables, cider and ecological prints. In the communal areas of Ecodorp Zuiderveld, there will be workshops and lectures on seed cultivation, food forestry and agroecology. There will also be practical workshops on grafting and wild harvesting. A varied art and music programme will be spread throughout the garden.
You can visit the market stalls to buy, exchange or receive seeds. Workshops and lectures on alternative agricultural systems and green activism will be held at the Ecodorp Zuiderveld community centre, as well as practical hands-on workshops on topics such as foraging and seed harvesting. Fun for children too!
Various art installations can be admired throughout the garden and there will be a varied music programme throughout the day.
Entrance fee: a donation. Food (lunch and dinner) and drinks will be available throughout the day.
More information on the website of Reclaim the Seeds Nijmegen.
Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12
Reclaim the Seeds Wageningen
Location: De Hoge Born/Creative Garden
Time: will be announced later on their website
We’re reclaiming the future, seed by seed. Join us for a weekend of growth, community and connection. With a seed market, workshops, lectures, art, music and more...
Entrance fee: Free
More information on https://www.boerengroep.nl/nl/activiteiten/reclaim-the-seeds
If more information becomes available about the above or other Reclaim the Seeds seed festivals, it will be posted here.
(A-)Social Media
Previously, updates about upcoming seed fairs were also shared on Reclaim the Seeds' Facebook page. We always had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, when announcing great initiatives such as Reclaim the Seeds' seed fairs, you want to reach as many people as possible. On the other hand, much of the criticism we have of large seed companies and their power also applies to Big Tech. ReclaimtheSeeds.nl has now decided to stop using Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp has emphatically sided with Trump. If you are building alternative structures and a robust food supply, you do not want to be dependent on a unpredictable medium that is actively used to promote extreme right-wing politics.
However, the local groups that organise the various events are autonomous and make their own decisions about the use of various social media.
A more detailed statement about META can be found here.
Swapping seeds in the spring of 2025
In Amsterdam, Groningen and Oedelem people are preparing for new seed fairs. You can write down the following dates in your agenda:
Saturday February 15
Geen Woorden maar Zaden, Rotterdams zadenruilfestival
Location: Voedseltuin, Gedempte Keilehaven, Rotterdam
Time: 12:00 - 16:00
More info
Saturday March 8
Noordelijke Zadenmarkt
Location: Terra 'De Pionier', Suikerlaan 51, Groningen
Time: 11:00 - 16:00
More info: https://www.noordelijkzadennetwerk.nl/zadenmarkten/zadenmarkt-2025
Reclaim the Seeds West Vlaanderen
Location: Land en Tuinbouwinstituut - Bruggestraat 190, Oedelem
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Link voor meer informatie
Sunday March 9
Reclaim the Seeds Hof van Wezel
At the Hof van Wezel in Beuningen (West of Nijmegen) a (tiny) seedswap will take place. With a few workshops and documentaries about gardening, ecology and eco techniques.
Location: Hof van Wezel, Ficarystraat 11, Beuningen
Time: starting at 13:00
Saturday March 15 & Sunday March 16
Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam
Location: De Fruittuin van West, Tom Schreursweg 48, Amsterdam
More info: https://reclaimtheseeds-amsterdam.nl
Sunday March 16
Reclaim the Seeds Kempen
Ecocentrum De Goren - Postelsesteenweg 71, Mol
Time: 10:00 - 18:00
Link for more info
Saturday March 22
Reclaim the Seeds Den Bosch
Seedfair with mainly local and regional gardeners and seed savers.
Location: De Graafse Akker, Mgr. van Roosmalenplein 19c, Den Bosch
Time: 11:00 - 17:00
More information is available on the website from Club Duurzaam Doen.
Sunday March 23
Reclaim the Seeds Lier
Steinerschool 'De Populier' - Mallekotstraat 43, Lier
from 10:00 till 17:00
More info
Friday March 28 - Sunday 30 March
Reclaim the Seeds Wageningen
Friday (19:30 - 22:00) Openings Event in NuDeToekomst
Zaterdag (10:00 - 20:00) Seed swap and workshops in the Creative Garden en de Hoge Born
Zondag (10:00 - 18:00) Gardening and workshops in the Ommuurde Tuin
More information
Saturday April 5
Reclaim the Seeds Nijmegen
More info will follow later
Probably some more Reclaim the Seeds events will be announced. Please keep an on this website to stay updated.
Raise our forks for diversity!
The EU is again working on new seed regulations. More than 10 years ago, Reclaim the Seeds was started as a protest against a similar process .
The new EU seed law proposal, published by the European Commission in July 2023, is a serious threat to the free exchange of seeds and the diversity of our crops. Furthermore, this law ignores the right of farmers to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds, as enshrined in international law. This is unacceptable!
The Austrian seed savers in the organisation Arche Noah have set up a petition to change the proposal. It is important that many people sign and let decision makers know the importance of agricultural biodiversity and a resilient agriculture based on open pollinated varieties. Read more on Arche Noah's petition page. Continue reading on the page of the petition page of Arche Noah.
Reclaim the Seeds in Lier is back on the agenda: Sunday 3 March 2024
The first Reclaim the Seeds in Flanders took place in Lier in 2016. And now the seeds working group of Velt is bringing this seed fair with stalls and lectures back to this location just east of Antwerp.
Velt's seeds working group is committed to preserving open-pollinated and special types of crops in cooperation with a large group of gardeners who grow, collect, save and exchange seeds themselves.
Do you have seeds left over, are you still looking for something nice for your (vegetable) garden, do you need your seeds cleaned, do you want to learn how to grow your own seeds successfully, or do you want to know more about the new European legislation on seed cultivation?
On the occasion of Velt's 50th anniversary, the seeds working group will be offering an extra wide range of seeds.
So be sure to visit this 'seed exchange XL' where, in addition to seeds, you can also buy a whole range of special garden plants and the like.
Some of the offerings:
De Veirman Willy (yacon, chayote, pepino, grapes, tomatoes, peppers)
De Wilde Wei (special vinegars)
De Woudezel (alternative edible plants, food forests)
Ecohoeve 'Den Oude Kastanje' (unique and 'forgotten' vegetables)
GRADINKA Kruidentuinen (seeds and herb products)
GroeiR (metal plant supports for climbing vegetables, fruit and flowers)
Tuinjoop (special seeds, homemade herbal products)
Wolcocon (ecological slow cooker)
Zaden Voor Iedereen (seeds, free exchange table, brass and bronze garden tools)
Bloemenbos (flowers and plants, honey)
Velt Netevallei (Velt Publications)
time: Sunday 3 March, 11:00-17:00.
location: De Populier - Middelbare Steinerschool, Mallekotstraat 43, 2500 Lier, België.
Entry: 2 euro.
The third 'Reclaim the Seeds' in West Flanders on Saturday 9 March 2024
On Saturday 9 March 2024 from 10am to 5pm, Velt is organising its third major organic and ecological seed and plant fair in West Flanders. This is a collaboration between Velt West Flanders and 'Reclaim The Seeds'.
The fair will take place at the Agriculture and Horticulture Institute.
The seeds working group of Velt, the great pioneer of these fairs in Belgium, will certainly be present with an extensive seeds stand and a large exchange table where everyone can deposit their own seeds packed in bags (with harvest date, name and possibly sowing dates and other info on them) and exchange them for other seeds on this table.
location: Bruggestraat 190 te 8730 Oedelem, België.
You can exchange seeds again on 16 and 17 March in Amsterdam
Reclaim the Seeds 2024 is coming up again! On the weekend of 16 and 17 March, this festivity will again take place at the Fruittuin van West. There will again be a seed market, lectures and workshops. More information about this programme will appear soon on the Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam website (Please note: the information on the website still refers to last year's festival).
In addition to being the place to exchange or buy new seeds for your garden, Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam aims to raise awareness about the fragile situation of seeds in order to contribute to the fight for more biodiversity and a more sustainable and robust food system. The festival contributes directly to this goal by encouraging the exchange of rare and distinct varieties. The programme also addresses other practical, theoretical and political/agriculture topics focused on decentralisation and autonomy.
Opposition to crop patents and the promotion of climate-neutral and fossil-free agriculture are also currently spearheads of Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam. You can find more background on these topics and reports from past years elsewhere on this website.
Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam is organised by ASEED, de Fruittuin van West and urban farming collective Cityplot. The festival is made possibly by the many volunteers and active participants. Do you want to get involved? Send us an email.
'De Kempen Kiemt', on March 17 a first Reclaim the Seeds in Mol
Time: March 17 2024, 11:00-17:00
Location: Ecocenter De Goren, Postelsesteenweg 71, 2400 Mol, België
Entry: for free
More information and updates you can find on the Velt website.
Reclaim the Seeds in Wageningen: Friday March 28 until Sunday March 30 2025
This year Reclaimt the Seeds Wageningen will create a regenerative, reflective, inspiring and connecting space where we can embody our politics and where ideas and collaborations can sprout! New will be our campsite at Ppauw, where you can set up a tent for the whole weekend (in case you don’t have a tent, we can try to help you with that too; see registration link below).
We will explore the theme 'seeds' but also the concept 'reclaiming' from a philosophical, political, practical and embodied level. We are organising a three-day event at the NuDeToekomst, Creative Garden, Ppauw and Ommuurde Tuin in Wageningen.
Friday we will open with a get-together in NuDeToekomst, where we will host a film screening and discussion of Seed: The Untold Story by Vandana Shiva. This film raises awareness for the loss of seed diversity worldwide.
Saturday we come together at Creative Garden and Hoge Born, where we start and end with ceremonies and throughout the day we will dive into the topics of seeds and agroecology, the intersectionality of struggles, traditional plant use, reclamation of identity, body and roots, decolonisation, and more.
Sunday we will meet at Ommuurde Tuin, we will delve deeper into the same topics as on Friday and Saturday through a variety of workshops surrounding gardening, cooking, decolonisation and music.
Friday March 28: time: 19:30 - 22:00, location: NuDeToekomst, Mennonietenweg 15A, Wageningen.
zaterdag 29 maart: tijd: 10:00 - 20:00, location: Creative Garden en de Hoge Born, Bornsesteeg 87, Wageningen.
zondag 30 maart: tijd: 10:00 - 18:00, location: de Ommuurde Tuin, Kortenburg 16, Renkum.
It is possible to Camp at Ecodorp Ppauw. If you would like to do this it is necessary to register.
Entry: donation.
More information about the programme you can find in the programme booklet. There is also a 'teaser' of the programme online.
Saterday 6 April: Reclaim the Seeds on Walcheren
A seed festival partly to mark 50 years of Velt.
Organised by the Seeds Library and the Zeeland Library.
Location: In Zeeland Library
Kousteense dijk 7, Middelburg.
Time: From 10:00 to 16:00 uur.
What can you do?
- There will be many seeds to exchange (but even if you have nothing to exchange yourself, it is possible to take home seeds and tubers of special crops for your vegetable garden);
- Screening of the new documentary "Jos, de mens als nuttige soort." ("Jos - humans as useful species", will be in Dutch);
- Various information stalls;
- Farmers' market;
- Lecture "veganism in agriculture";
- Workshop "harvesting your own seeds";
- Urban walk led by the city ecologist;
And much more ...
Reclaim the Seeds is an event during which the exchange of information and seeds is combined with discussions on political themes and practical workshops. The goal is to involve more people in the movement towards agriculture biodiversity and robust, sustainable food production. Reclaim the Seeds contributes directly to this by encouraging the exchange of rare and special varieties.
Reclaim the Seeds began in 2010 as a protest against the new EU seed legislation. Today, the focus is more on resistance against patents on crops and on supporting a climate neutral, 'fossil free' agriculture. The programme also covers other practical, theoretical and political topics related to agriculture.
Reclaim the Seeds in 2020, 2021 and 2022
Due to Corona we had to cancel the seed fairs in Amsterdam and Frederiksoord (in Drenthe) in 2020.
In 2021 an online version took place. This resulted in a lot of interesting lectures. More about this you can find on the Dutch section of this website. Unfortunately not many seeds have been swapped. Another disadvantage compared to a real live seedfair was that not that many interesting meetings between people took place.
In 2022 two successful real seed fairs a lot of interactions and exchanges between gardeners, seed savers and other people took place again. One in Amsterdam and one in Oedelem in Flanders.
(old report) A successful Reclaim the Seeds 2017 in Nijmegen and Lent
The annual seed fair took place in De Vasim in Nijmegen on Saturday March 4th. De Vasim is an old spinning mill on the Waal river that now functions as a cultural breeding hub. Come join us in exchanging a wide variety of seeds and cutting as well as ideas, information, and useful skills. We welcome you to bring any seeds or cuttings to exchange along with the myriad of old, local, non-hybrid, and special seeds, bulbs, and cuttings.
During the market there will be talks and workshops about saving seeds, permaculture, seed networks, edible peenial plants, the impact of Bayer/Monsanto and other large seed companies, and other subjects. The overarching theme of the day will be regarding the issues of seed patenting.
The next day, Sunday March 5th, everybody is invited to lend a hand at starting an edible garden in Lent. In this northern part of Nijmegen two ecological communities IEWAN and Eikpunt have recently been completed and now the inhabitants are going to transform most of the public green area to become edible. There will also be some excursions to biodiverse projects in the surroundings.
Reclaim the Seeds is an annual event, each year in a different part of the Netherlands, where exchanging seeds and information is combined with discussions about political themes and practical workshops. It started as a protest against new European seed laws, but now the main goal is to involve more people in the struggle against patents in plants and against the ever increasing power of large agricultural corporations. With the event we contribute to the upkeep of agricultural biodiversity and a robust, sustainable agriculture.
The overarching theme of the day will be regarding the issues of seed patenting. The past 5 editions were a success; many interested people joined in and the workshops and discussions were well attended. Let us reclaim the seeds!
