The Seed Bank

The Damanhur Seed bank project: safeguarding plant bio-diversity and self-sufficiency in seed production.

The term 'bio-diversity', coined in the 1980s, indicates the variety and richness of living forms on the earth, from the Greek bios = life, and diversity, variation.

Intensive farming, today, makes use of only a small variety of species. For human alimentation, use is made of 150 principal species and, among these, 29 supply 90% of food produced! Within the first half of this century, it is presumed that around 40 thousand species will have disappeared compared to the dawn of agriculture, the beginning of human history.

The Damanhur Seed Bank project started developing in 2004, taking up an old dream, which has become our objective: to contribute to safeguard plant bio-diversity and, at the same time, be self-sufficient in seed production.It is being developed through research into the variety of local agricultural foods and, as an extension, the cultivation of varieties up to the auto-production of seeds, saving the seeds in special containers that preserve their vitality for a long time. The cultivation is spread across various territories on hillsides and plains, between Valchiusella and the area of Caluso.

Presently, we can count around 120 varieties of different vegetable-garden species, the greater part of which are local, for a total of around 15,000 seeds.

We collaborate with the 'seed savers' of Associazione Civiltà Contadina (Countryside Civilisation Association), to create working groups and exchange at a regional level; we have participated, by collecting several hundred signatures, in a petition organised in 2006, thanks to which it has been possible to change the national law which prevented the exchange of unregistered seeds between enthusiasts and growers.

We are, in addition, in contact with numerous organisations, both in Italy and abroad, who are interested in conserving bio-diversity.