Liveseed
LiveseedWP1 – Regulation & policy framework regarding production, use, and transparency of organic seed
The challenge: Addressing legislative gaps to facilitate information flow on organic seed availability
There is a lack of transparency within the EU organic seed market and poor implementation of EU legislation requirements on a national level. According to the EU marketing requirements on Plant Reproductive Material, plant varieties for which organic seeds are on the market need to be registered and each country should maintain an up-to-date database of all available seeds, organic seed producers and production based on organic seeds. These databases are, however, not fully updated and sometimes do not even exist in certain EU countries, making it difficult to know what seeds are available. Furthermore, while there is data on the number of derogations granted in each country, detailed information on the number of producers that actually use organic seeds and the amount of production based on organic seeds is missing. This results in inadequate information on organic seed availability for producers but also for policy-makers, making it difficult to arrive at evidence-based policies and solutions for incentivising the use of organic seeds.
LIVESEED’s approach
Transparency within the EU organic seed market and implementation of EU legislation requirements on a national level need to be improved. In order to understand how to best approach these, we first need sufficient information on available seed. Thus, WP1 will conduct comprehensive studies on the production and use of organic seed, legal frameworks applied in the different EU Member States, functionality of seed databases and the demand of seed suppliers and seed users. National seed expert groups on organic seed will be initiated where they are missing and best practice models will be disseminated among countries. LIVESEED will then build an infrastructure (a router database) that facilitates information exchange on seeds at the EU level.
Deliverables
D1.1 Video to promote organic seed use (T1.2)- D1.5 Report on the European Router Database
- European Router Database Guide for Authorities
- European Router Database Guide for Suppliers
- D1.6 European Progress Report
- D1.7 Report on the National Visits (T1.2)
- D1.9 Report on Political Obstacles and Bottlenecks on the Implementation of the Rules for Organic Seed in the Organic Regulation (former M1.9)
Other outcomes and results
- Task 1.1. The EU Organic Seed Sector – Statistic on Organic Seed Supply and Demand
- Task 1.2.1 Country Reports on the National Visits (2017-2018)
- Task 1.4.1 Reports of the Regional/National Workshops (2019)
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- Task 1.4.1 Presentations from the LIVESEED workshop on Vegetative Propagation Material (10 September 2020)
- Task 1.4.1 Report on the online LIVESEED workshop on the organic seed regulation for North-western European Countries
- Task 1.4.1 Report on the International online workshop on the regulation for organic vegetative propagating material
- Task 1.4.2 National Progress reports (from 2020)
- Posters on national progress between 2017-2020 in facilitating the production & use of organic seed
- Task 1.4.3 European Workshop on Organic Seed Production and Use (25th November 2020)
European organic seed databases
Trainings on the EU Router Database
- Training for national authorities on the EU Router Database (26 April 2021): Presentation – Webinar
- Training for seed suppliers and seed producers on the EU Router Database (28 April 2021): Presentation – Webinar
- [German] Training for seed suppliers and seed producers on the EU Router Database (5 May 2021): Presentation – Webinar
