Scotland Seed Sovereignty

Was very lucky to spend a day with the @common_grains Organising Group defining, visioning, and planning next steps the other week. What a force of nature! So much energy, experience and inspiration in one room - needless to say lots of great things to come in the next year from our very own non-commodity grain network in Scotland! 🌾 💪 #grains #noncommoditygrains #growersnetwork #heritagegrains #planningcommunity #seedsovereignty #scottishseed #scottishgrain

👉️ Just a few hours left to DOUBLE your donation to the future of our food system! @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise campaign closes at midday on 29 April ⏰️⁠ ⁠ Every £1 donated contributes towards our #SeedWeek2026 goal of raising £20,000 to put seed back in growers’ hands, by: ⁠ ⁠ 🌾 Reclaiming the skills and wisdom lost to corporate seed production with trainings in seed politics, practice, and production ⁠ 🫘 Growing our animated network of seed guardians, dedicated to sowing diverse, resilient, regionally-adapted crops with events, plant trials, breeding programmes, and working groups ⁠ 🌱 Strengthening our collaborative stance against seed giants by supporting market gardeners to diversify into community and commercial seed production ⁠ 🌸 Refinding the joy that comes from cultivating a personal and cultural connection to locally-produced food⁠ ⁠ In her seed story, our Future Seed Resilience Coordinator, Holly, emphasises the holistic benefits that come from increasing the diversity of our seed for climate resilience. ⁠ ⁠ “There’s so much joy to be found in diversity” ⁠ ⁠ ➡️ Share Holly’s words (the full version is also available through the link in our bio) to help us meet our goal by midday today!

24 hours remaining to DOUBLE your donation towards a climate-resilient, diverse, grower-led seed system 👉️ follow the link in our bio to help us raise £20,000 for the future of our food, fields, families, and more-than-human friends ⁠ ⁠ As corporate food production has grown, we’ve been stripped of some of our humanness. Regional varieties, heritage crops, and time-honoured recipes bind us to each other, the Earth, and those we share her with. ⁠ ⁠ Reweaving ourselves into our food cultures will catalyse our transition towards a more sustainable food system. And what better place to start than the beginning? The seed. ⁠ ⁠ Placing seed back in the hands of growers allows us to grow the resilient fields and communities we need to flourish in unpredictable times, both climatic and societal. ⁠ ⁠ ➡️ Follow the link in our bio to read the full article and join us on our shared path to seed sovereignty. Every #SeedWeek2026 donation is kindly DOUBLED by @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise 2026 until midday on 29 April⁠

👉️ Follow the link in our bio to DOUBLE your donation to tomorrow’s food system, thanks to @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise campaign, running from 22 - 29 April 2026 ⁠ ⁠ “Sharing seeds in informal ways creates connection with each other and connection with the lands” ⁠ ⁠ Louise, our former Scotland Seed Sovereignty Coordinator, now supporting our Wales network, tells us how these landrace parsnip seeds help her reflect on seed sovereignty. ⁠ ⁠ This #SeedWeek2026, we’re raising £20,000 to put seed back in the hands of growers; reclaiming our future from extractive corporations.⁠ ⁠ The patented seeds sold by ‘big ag’ cannot be saved and passed on, restricting the seeds’ ability to adapt over time and inhibiting our own sharing of food. By transitioning to a grower-led seed system, we can tap into the climate and community resilience that a seed sovereign system can offer. ⁠ ⁠ ➡️ Share Louise’s seed story (the full version is also available through the link in our bio) to help us spread the word ⭐️ — ⁠ 🎥 Alberto Balazs

👉️ Follow the link in our bio to DOUBLE your donation to tomorrow’s food system, thanks to @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise campaign, running from 22 - 29 April 2026 ⁠ ⁠ “Food has been one of the ways I’ve found home wherever I’ve moved to” ⁠ ⁠ Randa, our former Southern England Seed Sovereignty Coordinator (who has recently moved overseas), shares a story of her relationship to the broad bean and speaks of the connection between biodiversity and cultural diversity she has found in her travels. ⁠ ⁠ Her words remind us to keep sharing regional seeds, recipes, and stories to nurture our sense of belonging. ⁠ ⁠ This #SeedWeek2026, the agroecology and seed sovereignty movements are banding together to give seed the recognition it deserves and raise £20,000 to put our future back in the hands of the growers who are keeping heritage seeds and their stories alive. ⁠ ⁠ ➡️ Join us! Share Randa’s seed story (the full version is also available through the link in our bio) to help seed sovereignty bloom beyond its usual corner of the internet 🌱 — ⁠ 🎥 Alberto Balazs

In reclaiming a diverse and resilient food system, through the very nature of working with seed, we find ourselves being rethreaded into lost communities and cooperative ways of working.⁠ ⁠ This #SeedWeek2026, we’re raising £20,000 to place our future back in the hands of growers: reclaiming ⁠the seed, food, and community sovereignty lost to corporate food production. ⁠ ⁠ 👉️ Follow the link in our bio to DOUBLE your donation to tomorrow’s food system, thanks to @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise campaign, running from 22 - 29 April 2026 ⁠ ⁠ Poppy and Seth of @dogoodthingsfarm , along with countless members of the seed sovereignty movement, have experienced this phenomenon of reconnection first-hand. Far from our current societal ways of being, these levels of cooperation, while natural and almost magnetic once the work takes hold, take a little remembering. ⁠ ⁠ Katie, Gaia’s Wales Seed Sovereignty Coordinator, is travelling to Bhutan, Nepal and India to learn from their thriving ecosystems of agricultural cooperatives for her recently awarded @ChurchillFellowship . By asking questions about the binding ingredients of seed cooperatives in other parts of the world, she hopes to better understand how to feed a cooperative seed movement here. ⁠ ⁠ ➡️ Read the full article and DOUBLE your donation to seed and community sovereignty through the link in our bio — 📸 1 & 14 by @alexanderparkynsmith 📷 2 - 13 by @dogoodthings_farm @dogoodthings_film

#SeedWeek2026 - it’s been great working with the gaiafoundation on this. If you can support their Earth Raise fundraiser, they are raising money to support putting seeds back in growers hands. 🙌 🌱 Sharing this post / creating your own post on seed saving to help spread the word would be great too!

👉️ Follow the link in our bio to DOUBLE your donation to tomorrow’s food system, thanks to @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise campaign, running from 22 - 29 April 2026 ⁠ ⁠ “What’s blown my mind about them is realising that of course they’re seeds, and they grow into crops, and they’re really important in and of themselves, but also they’re not just seeds and crops. They’re connections to people’s history and heritage and culture.”⁠ ⁠ Katie, our Wales Seed Sovereignty Coordinator, shares her story of a seed that is important to her: the Welsh Ceirch Du black oat. ⁠ ⁠ The profit-driven corporations that control the majority of today’s seed are wiping out these personal, cultural connections to food and farming. ⁠ ⁠ This #SeedWeek2026, the agroecology and seed sovereignty movements are banding together to give seed the recognition it deserves and raise £20,000 to put our future back in the hands of growers, not multinational giants. ⁠ ⁠ ➡️ Join us! Share Katie’s seed story (the full version is also available through the link in our bio) to help seed sovereignty bloom beyond its usual corner of the internet 🌱⁠ — ⁠ 🎥 Alberto Balazs

If we look beyond the 12 crops that have come to represent 75% of our diets, we’ll open our food system to the options it is crying out for in an age of climate chaos: tens of thousands of millennia-strong and emergent varieties, each with characteristics capable of flourishing in a diversity of conditions. ⁠ ⁠ This level of diversity is the key to ensuring full bellies, rich soils, and wild neighbours for centuries to come. To get there, we’ll need to escape the grasp of agrichemical corporations intent on sacrificing sovereignty for profits, instead placing seed back in the earth-honoured hands of growers.⁠ ⁠ ➡️ Read the full article by Gaia’s Future Seed Resilience Coordinator, Holly, and DOUBLE your donation to seed sovereignty this Earth Day through the link in our bio ⁠ ⁠ Today is the first day of #SeedWeek2026, an annual celebration of seed’s potential coordinated by Gaia’s Seed Sovereignty Programme. ⁠ ⁠ Throughout the week, the agroecology and seed sovereignty movements are banding together to give seed the recognition it deserves as the heart of our food system, raising £20,000 to put our future back in the hands of growers, not multinational corporations. ⁠ ⁠ 👉️ Follow the link in our bio to DOUBLE your donation to tomorrow’s food system, thanks to @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise campaign, running from 22 - 29 April 2026

Starting this Wednesday, movers and shakers from land workers to bakers will be sharing stories from the heart of our food system for #SeedWeek2026⁠ ⁠ Each year, Seed Week allows seed sovereignty to bloom beyond the confines of our algorithmic reach, spreading wisdom and hope to curious souls in search of renewed momentum for our shared future. ⁠ ⁠ This year, our theme is centred around placing seed back in the hands of growers, where it rested safely for millennia, rather than with the agrichemical giants who have decimated the diversity and resilience of our food system in recent decades:⁠ ⁠ 🫘 Seeds of Resilience: The Future is in Our Hands 🫘 ⁠ ⁠ We’ll be raising £20,000 to place our future back in the hands of growers, with every donation doubled by @biggiveorg ’s Earth Raise campaign between 22 - 29 April. ⁠ ⁠ Every £5 becomes £10, every £50 becomes £100 towards strengthening seed networks, reviving endangered crops, and retraining growers to save seed adapted to their bioregions. ⁠ ⁠ Join us in reclaiming the resilience we desperately need in an age of climate breakdown 👉️ ⁠ ⁠ 🌱 Share your own seed stories, ideas, and inspiration with the tag #SeedWeek2026 ⁠ ⁠ 🫶 Join the conversation online to help seed sovereignty reach as many eyes and ears as possible ⁠ ⁠ 🫴 Follow the link in our bio to double your donation towards strengthening the resilience and justice of our food system (open midday 22 April until midday 29 April)⁠ ⁠ Will you be getting involved this year? Let us know below 👇️⁠ — ⁠ 🎥 Alberto Balazs

All in a day’s work… A couple of weeks ago I headed to @vadundee to pick up the Tiny Oat Collider, a small-scale oat dehuller that had been designed by engineer crofter Adam Veitch for the programme a few years ago. It had been featured in the V&A’s “Garden Futures: Designing with Nature” exhibition. With the exhibition finished, the V&A wanted to donate it back to the community. So it was loaded into my trusty wee swift and brought up to its new home at @lapwings.community.mill where it will be available for anyone in the Scottish grain network to use. It also coincides with work we’re doing to map out all the available equipment in our network - dehullers, threshers, mills, sieves and so much more could be shared, loaned and commissioned in order to spread the cost, responsibility and benefit of vital machinery. This idea is not new - until fairly recently machinery rings were the norm in many Scottish communities, and could be again with a bit of encouragement and organising. Watch this space on more info on this in the coming months! Until then huge thanks to @vadundee for gifting and @lapwings.community.mill for housing this great piece of kit! @common_grains #machineryring #grainnetwork #scottishgrain #scottishseed #communityowned

Amazing day at the Scottish Festival of Real Bread, as usual! Wonderful to catch up with some of the lovely members of @common_grains including @lapwings.community.mill , @grantongardenbakery , @lauristonfarm and @steadingandco Congrats to @scotlandthebread and @wendybarriesfg for another brilliant event! I think I’ve eaten my weight in bread… 🍞 🥖 🌾 ##scottishrealbreadchampionship #realbreadcampaign #festivalofrealbread #bowhouse #scotlandthebread #scottishflour