About Reclaim the Seeds

Reclaim the Seeds is an annually recurring event where the exchange of seeds and information is combined with discussion on political themes and practical workshops, each time in a different region. The goal is to get more and more people involved in the fight for agricultural biodiversity and a robust, sustainable food production. By stimulating the exchange of rare and separate varieties, the project contributes to this directly.

Reclaim the Seeds started as protest against the new EU seed legislation. Currently there is more focus on the resistance against patents on crops and the threatening introduction of new types of gentech. Other practical, theoretical and political agriculturally related topics are covered in the programme as well.

The last 6 editions in the Netherlands were successful. The seed fair usually attracted around 1000 participants, mainly active (vegetable) horticulture gardeners, The workshops and discussions were actively visited every time. Often the weekend results in the creation of permanent local initiatives. The event attracts people with vegetable gardens, professional horticulture gardeners, people involved with neighborhood vegetable gardens and activists. Since two years, a Reclaim the Seeds also takes place in Flanders.

Reclaim the Seeds is completely organized by volunteers every year.. The composition of the group changes. People from the environmental action group ASEED have been involved since the first edition, each year supplemented with local people from the region where the weekend takes place.

Up to the present day the seed circus settled in Amsterdam, Den Bosch, Groningen, Driebergen, Wageningen and finally Nijmegen. On February 24, 2018, it is time for Rotterdam. A week later, on March 3 and 4, Reclaim the Seeds will return once again to Amsterdam with what is likely to be a somewhat smaller version.

Members of the Flemish seed work group of Velt have been a loyal participant to the Reclaim the Seeds weekends in the Netherlands for years, but since 2016 they have also been organizing their own event in Belgium. After Lier and Sint-Niklaar it is now time for Leuven on March 10.

You can be a part of Reclaim the Seeds too! Just like other years, the event is only possible if enough people want to help. Lees hier op welke manier je mee kunt helpen.

Contact

You can best contact us by sending an e-mail to info@reclaimtheseeds.nl