Growing Seed Savers project has been lifted up as one good case in the DYNAVERSITY Project. DYNAVERSITY project analyses and describes the actors involved in plant genetic conservation for agriculture in order to suggest management and governance models and to construct new forms of networking. It facilitates exchange and integration of scientific as well as practical knowledge on how to best manage diversity in agriculture and in the entire food chain, restoring evolutionary and adaptation processes.

DYNAVERSITY partners selected and analysed 21 experiences representing the different players and networks involved in in situ and on farm conservation, and their interrelations. Selected case studies cover the different geographical regions of Europe, different crop types and species and different actor categories (gardeners, farmers, seed companies…). Growing Seed Savers cooperation network was chosen as one of the case studies.

Through these case studies, the consortium aims at understanding what it is that enables different initiatives to link up and collaborate. The theoretical framework of reference for this analysis is the transformative social innovation (TSI) theory which was operationalised in a set of questions, that supported the development of an interview guide.

A seed-legislation workshop in a form of discussion on practical aspects relevant for seed-savers took place near Kaunas in Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy on 27th of February, 2020. Participants included breeders, seed-savers, state officials, academia, representatives from the gene bank, students, farmers, NGO representatives. A representative of Danish Seed Savers visited the workshop and shared seed-savers experience from Denmark.

During the event, 4 speakers gave presentations with discussions in between the presentations and longer discussion afterwards. First, Gamtinės Žemdirbystės Institutas representative Gražvydas Jegelevičius outlined "Growing seed savers" project activities and introduced, why is it necessary to preserve crop diversity and heritage crops. Afterwards vegetable breeder Dr. Rasa Karklenienė presented Lithuanian vegetable breeds that have been bred by scientists in Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture and Forestry up to this day. Later on, seed saver Rasa presented her work on the preservation of heritage crops and showed some examples including a local old sort of turnip. Also a feedback was given from seed-savers perspective with regards to recent changes in Lithuanian seed legislation permitting public seed-exchange and suggestions for future improving. Lastly, events' guest from Danish Seed Savers outlined how did the seed law in Denmark developed with regards to hobby gardeners and seed-savers rights. The representatives from Plant Protection Agency were significantly involved in discussions and provided comments/ feedback. They were very much interested in Danish experience.

Topics of discussion included: recent seed legislation developments in Lithuania; why do we need to preserve heritage crop diversity; what are the so called "old varieties"; vegetable varieties bred in Lithuania; how Danish seed legislation functions with regard to seed-exchange and marketing of unregistered varieties; cooperation between seed-savers and authorities.

Overall, it can be said that both authorities and seed-savers expressed what current issues do they see from their point of view related to the topic of discussion. During coffee breaks friendly talks took place with agreements on future cooperation being made. What is more additonal parties, such as members of academia learned about the issues of this topic. Feedback was given that such a discussion was needed and it was timely.

Update 16.02.2020: On the 1st and 2nd of February 2020 hobby gardeners learned about seed-saving in Vilnius.

A seed-savers course took place in Antakalnis suburb of Vilnius, in the Antakalnis community hall. Antakalnis urban gardeners, who are managing an urban garden just nearby from the community hall, happilly joined in for the event, provided snacks and refreshments and helped setting up for the event. A two day course was lead by 4 lecturers and an auditory of 50 participants attended the event.

During the day 1, listeners were introduced to what is seed saving, why is it important and why it is essential to preserve cultural plant diversity. Then basic plant knowledge was presented enveloping plant life-cycle, reproduction, pollination specifics and plant classification. Listeners also learned what are F1 hybrids, advantages and disadvantages related to their use and what is the difference compared to open-pollinated varieties. Furthermore, a summary of Lithuanian seed legislation was presented outlining practical aspects for seed savers.

Additionally, a seed exhibition was set up where different kinds of seeds were displayed, so that attendees could learn more about seeds and crop diversity, be inspired to actually grow and save-seeds.

Day 2 was more focused on actual seed-saving. Attendees learned about practical seed-saving and aspects such as: how to select plants for propagation for seed, how to maintain a variety, what are the crosspollination specifics, techniques how to avoid crosspollination. Then it was explained how to properly mature the seeds, dry them, clean them and store them. Plant diseases have also been briefly presented so that seed-savers can better avoid them.

Gamtinės žemdirbystės institutas has received a good feedback from multiple attendees and a journalist was interested in publishing articles about seed saving. A series of 3 articles were planned in spring ir magazine "Rasos".

12.01.2020, Announcement: Seed savers course has been announced for the first weekend of February. It will be a 2-day teaching event based on project partners Danish Seed Savers course outline, that was adapted to Lithuanian situation. All Lithuanian participants that have participated in seed savers course organised by Danish SS in February 2019 are contributing to the event. More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/2613314322070800/

On January 25-26, the first heritage plant seed saver courses in Latvia took place in Ikšķile Free School.

On Saturday, the courses began with an introductory presentation by Guntra Aistara, professor at the Central European University and a member of the Latvian Permaculture Association, on the history of crops from ancient times to the present day. Guntra highlighted the importance of preserving heritage varieties and natural diversity as a solution to the ability of a plant to adapt to climate change and secure food for the future.

Afterwards, Līga Lepse, leading researcher at the Pūre Horticultural Research Centre, taught seed savers the basics of biology and plant genetics, as well as revealed practical methods on obtaining seeds from various plants.

Anitra Lestlande, Head of the Integrated Plant Protection Division of the State Plant Protection Service, spoke about plant diseases that need special attention when propagating seeds at home. She also provided information on disease prevention measures to keep the plants healthy.

Raivis Bahšteins, a representative of the Latvian Association of Organic Agriculture, spoke about maintaining and increasing natural diversity in the garden, calling attention to not only the diversity of plant species and varieties, but also organisms in the soil, as well as insects, birds and animals. Together they help maintain a balance in nature and in the garden by tirelessly “working” countless hours and balancing diseases and pests.

In the next presentation, Guntra Aistara and Daina Mūrniece, members of Latvian Permaculture Association, focused on seed legislation in Europe and the Baltic States and how legislative decisions impact seed saving.

Liena Jaunzeme, Deputy Director of the Seed Certification and Variety Protection Department of the State Plant Protection Service, provided a detailed explanation on how to register in the Register of Vegetable Collectors.

At the end of the first day, a practical activity was organized where everyone had the chance to clean actual seeds of ground cherries, amaranth and other vegetables.

On Sunday, seed saver courses were continued by Anta Sparinska, Doctor of Biology, organizing the seminar in a conversational format and asking the audience about the topics learned in biology on Saturday. Also, since many experienced growers had gathered for the courses, a valuable exchange of knowledge was possible on the methods how to obtain seeds from the most common plants - legumes, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, pumpkin, tomatoes, eggplant, fennel, etc.

As next, Līga Eglīte, gardener of Cēsis Medieval Castle, brought the audience into the world of medieval gardening and told the story how her seed collection got to the castle garden.

The event continued with seed exchange which is getting richer year by year, while seed savers are becoming more and more knowledgeable. Eleven seed savers - including a seed saver from Estonia, as well as a lead researcher from the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics - told about the origin of the collected seeds and generously shared these with others.

The event was attended by 55 people, and 12 listeners received a certificate as a proof that they have participated for two full days of the seed saver courses.

Participants went home inspired to collect seeds and preserve heritage crops, as well as ask relatives if they know about any seeds grown in the family for a long time.

Brief meeting with urban gardeners in Antakalnis suburb in Vilnius took place. Possibilities of having a garden bed for demonstration of seed saving in Antakalnis urban garden were discussed. It was agreed that one garden bed will be assigned for demonstrating how to grow vegetable seeds for Antakalnis community and others to see also with short lecture on seed saving later in the year.

On 15-17.11.2019, five members from NGO Maadjas in Estonia participated in Growing Seed Savers project meeting in Ambeli in Latvia. The travel by car took 10 hours but we were all very happy to see this part of Latvia as none of us had been in Aglona-Ambeli region before. Project members from Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia gathered during the weekend to discuss the project activities carried out during the year 2019 as well as discussed the activities to be carried out during 2020. During the project meeting we got the possibility to participate in the celebration of Latvian Independence Day, a huge cultural program that impressed us all. Project members from Lithuania contributed also with singing at the event. The feelings were so good that it was decided that the project final conference in spring will also be kept in Ambeli. There are all suitable environments close by in order to arrange a good conference. In this way we will also try to get experts, members from the ministries and authorities to participate in the conference in this remote area of Latvia.

NGO Maadja’s member Annika Michelson visited on 9th November 2019 the Swedish organisation Allkorn south of Stockholm at Ullberga gård telling about how heritage plants are being registered in Finland and what kind of support system there is for conservation varieties in Finland for farmers. Allkorn is an NGO uniting farmers cultivating heritage cereals in Sweden. There are no support for farmers cultivating conservation grain in Sweden and that was the reason why they wanted to get more information about how the Finnish system is functioning.

Expedition to look for old varieties and to try to find people in the countryside areas who still grow their own plant seeds was planned and carried out. Initially, two small towns in south of Lithuania were chosen. Valkininkai and Tiltai both are old villages. Tiltai is an ethnographical street-type village with traditional wooden architecture and other traditional aspects.

For this expedition Latvian partners joined in. In Valkininkai numerous households were inquired about old varieties of vegetables or other heritage plants. No one really knew actual seed-savers in the village. After several conversations an old lady was met that lived there for most of her life. She was interviewed and we, as visitors were pleasantly surprised. We learned about a lettuce that was grown by the lady for 60 years (and possibly even more in the family) as well as beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes from 20-40 years. Some seed samples were given to us by the lady and will be grown in 2020. No other seed-savers were found in Valkininkai.

In the second village Tiltai, local people passing by on the street were inquired and we got some hints about a lady who is growing flowers and has some old flower varieties. Unfortunatelly she was not at home. Another lady was pointed out that might be growing seeds. We visited her immediatelly and introduced our work. Quickly we learned about 2 types of zucchini and 2 types of pumpkin she grew that were inherited from her mother around 40-50 years ago. A seed-exchange was made and we even got actual samples of zucchini, photos of 2 kinds of pumpkins stored in a storage house and seeds of all four vegetables.

Overall we got some useful experience looking for old varieties of crops, met dedicated seed savers and got some valuable examples of vegetables.

Väike Jalajälg ecovillage is a seven year old eco community in Estonia. As part of Growing Seed Savers project, NGO Maadjas arranged a seed saver training day at the ecovillage on the 6th October 2019. During the day we were testing the educational program that has been developed in the project. This first day contained only the basics of seed saving. The participants got theoretical information and had also the possibility to try to clean seeds themselves. At the end of the training session, we visited the garden of the ecovillage and helped in pushing a 50 meter greenhouse to a new location at a field. You can take a look at that action from a video here. The most important during the educational day is the feedback discussion at the end. Each participant tells about own experiences during the day - what was new, what was surprising, what will they try themselves, and here people also open up and tell what kind of heritage plants they have in their own garden or if they know somebody that has a heirloom plant.

Tiia Trolla arranged a potato exhibition at Mihkli Farm Museum on Saaremaa island 28th September 2019. Old heritage potatoes were handed out to private persons first time spring 2018, when Väike-Maarja Farmers Association’s members cultivated them and arranged an exhibition of them. Spring 2019 was the second time when potatoes were handed out to a private person for cultivation. NGO Maadjas stresses the importance of in-situ cultivation of our heritage plants. If a plant has been saved for a very long time ex-situ, there is no insurance that it will perform as it used to do before. This is why we need to keep our genetic resources also in-situ, i.e. cultivated on fields, in different geographical locations in our countries. It is said that a plant that is taken from a gene bank to be cultivated on a field will take four years to get used to a new cultivation environment again. That is why one should not throw away a bad performing plant just after one year of cultivation but get on cultivating it to see if by time it will start to perform better.

On 27-28th September, three members from NGO Maadjas made garden inventories in Saaremaa island. Tiia Trolla visited several gardens on 27th September, and in the morning of 28th we visited an old woman and her daughter who had preserved under cultivation an old red colored rutabaga (swede, Brassica napus ssp. rapifera). We used the inventory document to write down the documentation of this rutabaga. They claimed that the age of the rutabaga would be several hundred years, its roots going back to an inn at Saaremaa island. The seeds had been handed over in the female line of the family. The same family for more than 100 years had also saved dill under cultivation. Later that day we visited an old woman whose garden was about to be overgrown. We got a nice talk in her garden about plants in general, even if she did not have any vegetables left then she had some old gooseberries, an old hop and spring flowers.

Three members of NGO Maadjas, Anneli Banner, Tiia Trolla and Annika Michelson participated in a seminar about heritage plants and animals at Mihkli Farm Museum in Saaremaa island. Anneli Banner, member of NGO Maadjas presented her new book Eesti Aia Ajalugu (Estonian Garden History) and gave a speech on Estonian garden history. Annika Michelson was speaking about northern dark bees in Estonia and the need for making their inventories. Tiia Trolla told about seed saving.

The Danish Seed Savers visited the garden of this uninhabited farm house in September 2019 to look for interesting heritage plants. Niels Gunnar Sørensen, who lived here until he died in 2017 was a farmer and had a small orchard. He was selling grains and fruit.
There were many old apple trees in the garden, these are to be identified in fall 2020.

On September 6, 2019 Estonian partners organized a workshop "How to preserve native plants?". The aim of the workshop was to improve knowledge, raise awareness of the importance of seeds and facilitate collaboration between actors such as farmers and chefs.

One of the segments in the workshop was about current seed legislation in Estonia and possibilities to make it favourable for saving diversity of native plants. Here also Latvian and Danish partners were invited to give their input and tell about their current seed legislation, success stories and necessity to communicate with the authorities. It was concluded that still the best way to establish collaboration with the government has to be found.

On 6th September, a workshop about Estonian seed legislation was arranged at the Estonian Open Air Museum in Tallinn. An analogue seminar was arranged in Riga, Latvia 30th May 2019. The seminar was arranged as part of the Growing Seed Savers project. NGO Maadjas had arranged a large exhibition of different heritage varieties that have been found in Estonia. This was the first time such kind of an exhibition was arranged. The seminar was opened by Anu Kannike, researcher on food from Estonian Folk Museum, with a lecture on Food and Cultural Heritage. Up till now different traditional foods are done according to old recipes but not by using old heritage varieties. As we now have found several of them, we will soon be able to also cook food by using these old varieties. We found that the opinions of different actors slowly are getting closer. It is in all parties interest that we manage to grow in-situ, use and preserve our heritage varieties. Members from Denmark and Latvia participated also in the workshop.