Our Global Reach

We are based in Australia and have run the national Seed Savers’ Network there since 1986. However since 1992 we have worked in other countries. In summary we  have:

•    worked on seed saving in thirty-seven countries

•    trained sixty-nine interns from fifteen countries

•    helped twenty-five interns to work on seed saving projects in nine countries

•    channelled small grants to thirty-five food biodiversity projects around the globe.

•    filmed in twenty-one countries and produced a one hour documentary, "Our Seeds", for the people of Melanesia

•    donated 700 copies of "Our Seeds" to people and projects around the world

Please see details on these activities below

Working in Other Countries

We have given training and presentations, filmed, recorded or made media appearances in these thirty-seven countries:

•    South Africa

1992 teaching two two-week Permaculture Design courses to an incredibly diverse range of people.

•    Palau, Micronesia

1994 - teaching a two-week Permaculture Design course to govt and NGO officials and others; talks with Prime Minister.

•    Solomon Islands 

1995 & 2000 - strategic meetings to establish Planting Material Network, giving training.

2003 - organising international conference;  presentations at University of South Pacific .

2005 - training, attending and helping run national conference.

2007 - training, filming.

2008 - training at Kastom Gaden Association; screening and distribution of "Our Seeds".

•    UK 

1996 - strategic meetings with NGOs, teaching Permaculture Design Course course.

2010 - presentations;  strategic meetings with NGOs ; filming; screening "Our Seeds".

•    Italy 

1996 - attending international conference on control of seed of NGOs at UN's FAO in Rome.

2006 - meetings on publishing The Seed Savers' Handbook in Italian; filming, presentations.

•    Tonga

1996 - for Commonwealth Foundation, training NGO staff on local seed production and national high school curriculum; talks with Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and royal family.

•    Samoa

1996 - attending four-yearly Pacific Festival of Arts, talks with Minister of Education, presentations at University of South Pacific;  2008 - filming, TV interview, screening and distribution of "Our Seeds".

•    Fiji

1996 - presentation at conference on seed supply to the Pacific; Permaculture workshops to Kana Project, Health and Nutrition Dept and NGOs.

•    Cuba

1996 - for Australian Conservation Foundation with Dept of Urban Agricultura, Havana, on improving seed supply in thirteen municipalities, teaching first Permaculture Design course.

•    USA

1996 - meeting at UN with SEED, World Agriculture Association.

1997 - presentation at ECHO Conference in Florida on seeds.

•    India

1997, 1999 -  presenting at international courses on seed issues on the invitation of Vandana Shiva.

2001 - meetings, presentations, filming, training with GREEN Foundation; instrumental in establishing 60 community seed banks in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

2006 - filming in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu - with GREEN Foundation and in Kerala.

2009 - attending Ethical Feast and filming in Rajasthan.

•    Cambodia 

1998 - for Quaker Foundation, training Dept of Women's Affairs in seed saving and teaching seed saving.

1999 - hosted an intern from Dept of Women's Affairs at Seed Centre for training in teaching seed saving.

•    Malaysia

1998 - for People and PIants Initiative of UNESCO, Kew Gardens and WWF International, resource people on Applied Ethnobotany Course for participants from seven SE Asian countries at  Kinabalu National Park, Sabah.

2010 - filming, screening "Our Seeds" for KadazanDusun tribals at Kinabalu National Park Biodiversiti Ekspo, in Sabah.

•    Zimbabwe

1998 -  Presentations at strategic planning meeting on establishing seed saving projects.

1999 - documenting seed saving on farms.

•    Nepal

1999 - presentations at conference on seed supply, meeting with Chipkos

•    Philippines

2001 - presentations at conference on seed supply for sustainable agriculture in Cebu and Negros islands

•    France

2001, 2005 & 2006 - meetings on publishing The Seed Savers' Handbook in French; filming

2010 - filming; presentation of "Our Seeds" at  Association of Veterans of Nuclear Tests

•    Kenya

1999 - presentations at conference on establishing community seed saving projects in ten countries of eastern and southern Africa

•    Japan 

2000 & 2002 - recording traditional practices that preserve traditional varieties; meetings on publishing Handbook in Japanese; talks with Japanese Organic Agriculture officials on decentralised farmer-based seed network as a counter balance to frozen seed stocks.

2009 - filming; presentations and screening "Our Seeds" for Japan Biodiversity Network

•    Papua New Guinea

2002 - talks with future government ministers on sustainable agriculture and food plant conservation networks, TV interview.

2006 - filming Huli tribe in southern highlands, training Community Based Health Care staff.

2009 - screening and distribution of "Our Seeds", series of meetings with Minister Dept of Community Affairs, presentation and screening for her staff; TV interview.

•    Afghanistan

2002 and 2003 for Japanese NGO Nicco, training in Permaculture and seed saving See an article and images on our work with the Faculty of Agriculture in Herat .

•    East Timor

2002 - for Caritas, training in Oecussi Province on seed saving, meetings and training of trainers in Dili.

•    Ecuador

2003 - placing five interns; helping establish national seed network, Red de Semillas, across Andes altitudes, training and meetings, talks on global GMO crop situation and intellectual property rights issues.

•    Columbia

2003 - training course for graduates at Pasto University, meeting with bishops and other church leaders on seed action plan, meeting on formation of seed networks.

•    New Zealand

2004 - presentations at national sustainable agriculture show, photographing and recording activities of seed saving groups; recording practices that preserve traditional varieties of food plants.

•    Taiwan 

2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008 - presentations for several national environment NGOs, filming both Chinese and aboriginal farming systems, translation of "Our Seeds" script into Mandarin for subtitles.

•    Spain

2006 - filming with seed saving NGO near Barcelona.

2011 - workshops in Marbella, Andalucia.

•    Sri Lanka

2007 - filming with Gami Seva Sevana, sustainable agriculture NGO.

•    China 

2008 - in Guanzhou and Yunnan, filming, meeting with tribal Tibetans.

•    Vietnam

2008 - filming, meeting with Green Hmong tribal leaders.

•    American Samoa

2008 - at four-yearly Pacific Festival of Arts, screening and extensive distribution of "Our Seeds" to heads of government, ministers and officials from thirty Pacific countries, TV interview, filming.

•    Vanuatu

2008 -  distribution of "Our Seeds" DVDs, TV and radio interviews.

2009 - filming one hour documentary "Our Roots" for French Centre for International Research in Agriculture and Development with Agriculture Dept in Espiritu Santo, Malekula and Efate.

•    Croatia

2010 - filming, recording practices that preserve traditional varieties of food plants.

•    Bosnia

2010 - filming, recording practices that preserve traditional varieties of food plants.

•    Serbia

2010 - presentation at Beograd Chamber of Commerce to a wide range of people including deputy heads of Minisry of Trade and of Education, heads of Serbia Organica and Serbian Biodynamic Association,  Australian deputy ambassador, seed breeders and companies, journalists, academics and govt officials; filming, preliminary talks with NGOs.

•    Austria 

2010 - presentation and film screening at University of Boden Kultur, radio interview, filming.

•   Portugal

2011 - Seed Savers Tour from 3rd to 30th Nov screening "Our Seeds" four times, giving workshops in Lisbon and Coimbra and talks in Sao Bras do Alportel, Lisbon, Coimbra and Campo do Geres, i.e., from south to north of the country. 

Training Interns

At our Seed Centre in Byron Bay, Australia we have trained sixty-nine interns for periods of one week to six months from these countries:

•    Australia (20 from 1997 to 2009 - Emma Stone, Nicole Kilburn, Bradley Costigan, Nikki Warwick, Julia Desbrosses, Robyn Parker, Steve Casasola, Amy Glastonbury, Andy Macintosh, Holly Shiach, Cheze Darville, Karen Hall, Peter Bakos, Amber Tucker, Paul Schmidt, Joel Dunn, Gemma Rubina, James Sprunt, Tom Duncan, Marian Warren, plus 214 one-week course students from 1997 to 2005)

•    Solomon Islands (7 - Gwendolyn Pitavavani, Sarah Osiabu, Roselyn Kabu, Mary Timothy, Inia Barry, Johnson Ladota, Lionel Maeliu)

•    Papua New Guinea (1 - Angeline Simon)

•    UK (6 - Susie Wren, Mary Whiting, Ben Larke, Julia Frankel, Rachael Lamb, Jack Dunwell)

•    USA (8 - Matt Brown, Pat Lilja, Brian Shillinglaw, Leyla Cabugos, Ann Sjostrom, Sunny Johnson, Jeannette Vinet, Luke Garrison)

•    Italy (1 - Dr Saviana Parodi)

•    Germany (3 - Jonas, Yan Tetzel, Michael)

•    South Africa (2 - Max van Ginkel and Mariana Bomberg)

•    Japan (12 - Masanori, Masami Sakaban, Megumu Ogata, Midori, Shiinji Kuno, Shizuka Komuro, Ai Morikawa, Kaori Odeta, Mariko Hamaguchi, Sho, Yuki, Taiji Shimowatari)

•    South Korea (2 - Lee and Cho from Poolmoo School)

•    Cambodia (1 - Kosal Neary)

•    East Timor (3 - Ego Lemos, Atai Ximenes, Betty dos Reis)

•    Puerto Rico (1 - Mara Nieves)

•    Argentina (1 - Pablo Ermini)

•    Austria (1 - Andreas Schindler)

Helping Place Interns in Seed Projects

We have assisted some twenty-five of our interns to travel to volunteer in seed saving projects in:
•    India (3 interns, 2 projects)

•    Solomon Islands (2 interns, 1 project)

•    Brazil (1 intern, 1 project)

•    Ecuador (5 interns, 3 projects)

•    Japan (6 interns, several projects)

•    East Timor (4 interns, several projects)

•    Cuba (1 intern, 1 project)

•    Malawi (1 intern, 1 project)

•    South Korea (2 interns, 1 project)

Channeling Small Grants to Seed Projects

Between 2002 and 2005 Seed Savers' Network channelled small grants to support seed saving projects in:
•    Australia (publishing Alice Springs Garden Companion, creating resources for Local Seed Networks, book parcels to overseas projects, school gardens book production)

•    Solomon Islands (Melanesian Farmer First Network - meeting of farmers from other Melanesian countries and visit of spice farms in Vanuatu; Planting Material Network - provide seed banking items and training on traditional food to the island of Tikopia; seed training for staff; production of Community Seed Saving book)

•    Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (Paru Paru Education Centre, seed saving project)

•    Bulgaria (The Community Genetic Resources Center, heritage varieties of fruits orchard)

•    Italy (Civilta Contadina, historical orchard near Cesena)

•    Cambodia (Dept of Women’s Affairs, Pursat, seed saving training)

•    Indonesia (IDEP in Bali, educational materials on seed saving)

•    India (seed saving projects, establishing community seed banks, training community seed bank worker in states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Ladakh and Tibetan refugee settlement)

•    Afghanistan (Faculty of Agriculture, Herat University, labels for fruit trees, seed saving equipment)

•    Cuba (adaptation of Spanish translation of Seed Savers’ Handbook to Cuban conditions)

•    Ecuador (Red de Semillas, expand national seed network)

•    Brazil (training on Seeds for Life project with former intern, Julia Desbrosses)

•    Argentina (Italian intern to travel there and train Salvadores de Semillas, expand seed network)

Donating 700 DVDs of our documentary, "Our Seeds"

We have hand delivered or posted over 700 copies of our one hour documentary, "Our Seeds" to a wide range of NGOs and educational institutions.

2008 Pacific Arts Festival

We met and gave 200 DVDs of "Our Seeds" to heads of state, ministers and heads of delegations from countriesin these regions: