Cultivated plants have always been planted in gardens or on farms, and have been used to produce seeds for planting. Whereas seeds used to be exchanged almost exclusively within families or among neighbours and friends, various organisations are now responsible for this. Since 1991, the Pro Specie Rara foundation has been storing seeds from more than a thousand varieties of garden, field and ornamental plants in a seed library, distributing seeds to farmers and hobby gardeners for cultivation in as many different places as possible and providing seeds to other people interested in growing rare plant species. Seeds are distributed and passed on at organised regional meetings or at large seed exchange events. The practice of seed exchange is of great importance to society as a whole, as it preserves biodiversity. Without the seed exchange, many varieties would be lost.
Packaged pea and bean seeds for the seed library (2009) © ProSpecieRara 2009
Seeds change hands at an exchange event (2011) © ProSpecieRara 2011
Different varieties of peppers with seeds © ProSpecieRara
Harvesting day at ProSpecieRara 2005 in Aarau © ProSpecieRara 2005
Harvesting day at ProSpecieRara 2008 in Aarau © ProSpecieRara 2008
Exchanging seeds © ProSpecieRara
Seed exchange event in the Ticino (2011) © ProSpecieRara 2011
Seed diversity (2017) © ProSpecieRara 2017
Bags of tomato seeds (2009) © ProSpecieRara 2009
Different varieties of tomatoes (2008) © ProSpecieRara 2008
Variety of bean seeds (2017) © ProSpecieRara 2017
Detailed description
Praktiken der Saatguterhaltung (PDF, 407 kB, 29.05.2018)Ausführliche Beschreibung
Category
Canton
Publications
Andrea Heistinger: Handbuch Samengärtnerei – Sorten erhalten, Vielfalt vermehren und Gemüse geniessen. Löwenzahn Verlag, Innsbruck, 2004
Marianna Serena: Das Lexikon der alten Gemüsesorten – 800 Sorten: Geschichte, Merkmale, Anbau und Verwendung in der Küche. AT Verlag, Aarau, 2014
Andrea Frommherz: Naturwerkstatt Samen und Gemüse – Mit Kindern Samen gewinnen und säen, Gemüse ziehen und spielerisch entdecken. AT Verlag, Aarau, 2015
ProSpecieRara: Sortenfinder 2017 – Saat- und Pflanzgutkatalog seltener Garten-, Acker-, Zierpflanzen- und Obstsorten für Gönner/- innen und Aktive. ProSpecieRara, Basel, 2017
Ronnie Vernooy, Bhuwon Sthapit: Community Seed Banks: Concept and Practice – Faciliator Handbook. Biodiversity International, Maccarese, 2017
Erklärung von Bern (EvB), ProSpecieRara: Saatgut – Bedrohte Vielfalt im Spannungsfeld der Interessen. EvB-Magazin, Ausgabe 2, 2014
Bálint Balázs et al.: Transnational Seed Exchange Networks. TRANSIT: EU SSH.2013.3.2-1 Grant agreement no: 613169, 2015
Bálint Balázs et al.: Transformative Social Innovation: Transnational Seed Exchange Networks. TRANSIT: EU SSH.2013.3.2-1 Grant agreement no: 613169, 2016
Links
Keywords
Spring
Autumn
Contact
ProSpecieRara
Béla
Bartha
Unter Brüglingen 6
4052
Basel
Phone
+41 61 545 99 11