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How a Low-Tech Seed Bank in Greece Preserves Thousands of Heritage Crops
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Yes! Magazine
Posted: January 11th, 2015
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/how-low-tech-seed-bank-gre...
Ethical consumers in the United States are increasingly concerned with the seeds used in the production of their food. However, this has been an issue in Europe for many years. In fact, there are several transnational seed-saver networks, like Arche Noah, whose members have become experts on heritage seeds. One of the most famous groups within Arche Noahs 8,000-member network is the live seed bank Peliti, which has been raising awareness about endangered varieties of heritage seeds since 1995. Once tiny, now Peliti is an NGO that receives thousands of visitors for its annual seed swap where you can get a mind-boggling number of seed varieties for free. Its the biggest event of its kind in the world. They call themselves a live seed bank because traditional seed banks store seeds under refrigeration, sometimes for up 15 years, which is more like a seed museum than a seed bank, according to volunteer Vasso Kanellopoulou. Peliti concentrates on keeping their seeds reproducing [to prevent] genetic erosion. It is [part of] the larger global seed-saver network. Their organization has given birth to many satellite communities that are linked with one another via a Google Group. Panagiotis Sainatoudis, Pelitis founder, says that one of the organizations basic principles is to support mans freedom to keep his own seed so he wont depend every year on seed purchase, commerce, not even on the seeds supplied by Peliti.
Note: In the United States, industrial agriculture companies are using the USDA to antagonize local community seed sharing groups. Find out more here.