Building a Seed Declaration �for� Slow Food

An update: 1 March 2024

Timeline

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2021

1st Seed Summit

Among the many inspiring speakers, Clayton Brascoupe of the Traditional Native American Farmers’ Association led a session about seed manifestos, explaining the powerful role a values document can play in aligning a movement. Clayton was instrumental �in authoring “A Declaration of Seed Sovereignty: A living document for New Mexico”.

This inspired the idea that writing a� seed declaration for Slow Food was worth pursuing.

2022

2023

2024

2nd Seed Summit

Seed declaration working group

Our goal this year is present a draft of the Slow Seeds Declaration at Terra Madre in September

3rd Seed Summit

Many more inspiring speakers, including Vandana Shiva, �and Rowen White, that set �the tone for a collaborative brainstorming session to begin the process of creating �a simple values document.

The “Slow Seeds” working group was initiated, facilitated by Slow Food USA, and allied seed organizations for developing a collective seed vision for Slow Food.

Seed Summit 2022 – collaborative brainstorm around SF pillars:

November 2023�

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Slow Food Seed Declaration�(first draft – February 2024)

Introduction

• Seeds are the origin and the cycle of life. Life on earth cannot exist without seeds. 
• Seeds are kin. 
• Seeds are the legacy from our ancestors, and should be the legacy to our descendants.
• The roots of our human relationship with seeds began around 10,000 years ago, as we began to abandon our hunter-gather lives to settle into more permanent agricultural communities. Producing and collecting seeds meant continuing the cycle of life, and ensuring the availability of crops for the subsequent season. Seeds were selected to develop new and diverse landrace varieties over time for their qualities of bearing the tastiest and most nourishing foods, with resilience to climatic challenges, capacity to germinate, resistance to disease. Not only did humans have a symbiotic relationship with seeds, our relationships with seeds were woven into our cultures. Our memories, our stories, our territories, customs, creativity, art, and our connection to nature. Seeds were handed from one generation of farmers to the next. 

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History

Slow Food Seed Declaration�(first draft – February 2024)

• During the 20^th Century, the agricultural sector was absorbed into the Industrial world, whereby, thanks to increase in knowledge of genetic science, new plant varieties were produced with a focus on uniformity and standardization for profit. The need to increase production, efficiency, and thus uniformity with the purpose �of saving humanity from starvation, was a post-war challenge that justified this narrative. These innovations �led to unintended consequences, by not considering seeds as kin, and human beings as part �of nature. 
• This has resulted in the many 1000’s of diverse cultivated fruits and vegetables being reduced to only a few �numbers of species, leading to a terrible loss of plant biodiversity. This has meant a loss of genetic diversity� that by consequence has meant lower resistance to diseases, less ability for adaptations, lowering the ability �to build resistance, loss of cultural patrimony and heritage, consolidation of seeds (that are seen as kin) in the hands of a few corporations, rather than in the hands of the seed savers. This underscores our human fragility �and need for living in harmony with nature.
• We have a duty and responsibility towards seeds. To protect and preserve them in order to guarantee the richness and variety in our meals, but also to safeguard their biological and cultural heritage. 

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what we stand for:

what we stand against:

Values

Slow Food Seed Declaration�(first draft – February 2024)

• Advocacy for defending seed saver rights and seed ownership
• Universal access to open-pollinated, open-source seeds
• Defending biodiversity within our food sources for greater resilience to climate change
• Centering Indigenous leaders in the movement towards seed rematriation 
• Empowering them in the movement with knowledge to make decisions that uplift ecological integrity 
• Supporting farmers in growing and accessing regionally adapted seeds

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• We are anti-GMO seeds. Unknown long-term impact in terms of human health. Residue poisons in soil.
• Patenting of seeds and licensing of genetic material, life itself
• Criminalization of free movement and sharing �of seeds
• Corporate ownership of seeds & laws put in place to secure this ownership through patents
• Industrial food monocultures that threaten biodiversity and landrace, traditional seed production

Slow Food Seed Declaration�(first draft – February 2024)

Calls to action

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Kitchen gardeners

You can make a difference. Learn to save seeds from the food you grow, and buy from heirloom seed companies

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Cooks

Use local Ark of Taste or Presidium products in your meals, know their stories, and educate your customers about them

Activists

Join your country’s local seed advocacy group to encourage policy changes at government level

Individuals

Support local Slow Food efforts such as Slow Food USA Plant-a-seed campaign, or nominate a product to the Ark of Taste

Farmers

Dedicate a small piece of land to explore growing traditional crops for seed and selling the produce at a local market

�Please be involved in writing the seed declaration.

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This is an open book project.��

Call for participation�

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