In 2025, we launched our first Seed Sovereignty Microfund, a new initiative providing targeted support to community groups advancing seed sovereignty across the UK (and, for this inaugural round, Ireland). Answering the calls of the network, this initial round of funding focused on addressing bottlenecks caused by limited access to essential equipment, with five recipients receiving a share of £20,000, generously provided by the Kreitman Foundation.
The primary aim of these small grants was to support community groups in purchasing the seed processing equipment needed to build local food systems sustained by diverse, regionally-adapted seeds. Each grantee also committed to creating resources that would further benefit the wider seed sovereignty movement. We are pleased to share a collection of these resources below.
Mid-scale grain seed cleaning has been an ongoing issue in Yorkshire, as well as nationally, for groups working with diverse and population cereals. Fraser Farms, an organic arable farm in Yorkshire, received funding as a contribution towards a new mid-scale seed cleaner for on-farm and wider community use.
Since its arrival, the cleaner has been used extensively both on farm and by the Yorkshire Grain Alliance as part of their work trialling different wheats and developing a regional ‘Grain Changer’ product line. Local farmers and the wider network have been invited to the farm for demonstrations and to use the cleaner. These visits, which also encourage attendees to engage with the agroecological processes taking place on the farm, have energised the local community and added strength and depth to the Yorkshire Grain Alliance.
Alex Fraser has produced a video resource introducing the movement to this machinery, helping guide others from different regions in the UK and beyond who may be looking for mid-scale equipment to process diverse and population grains.
Working with Fraser Farms through this process over the past eighteen months has also nurtured our own relationship with the farm and community. Alex is now one of the facilitators for our new Year-Long Grain Seed Production Course.
Established in 2020, the Wales Seed Hub is a seed-selling cooperative made up of growers and seed producers who have completed our Year-Long Seed Production Training. The money they received was used to create bespoke sets of cleaning sieves and screens for distribution across the Welsh network and beyond. Sieves are a simple but essential tool for cleaning seed after harvest, sorting the chaff – bits of stalk, seed pod and other debris – from the seed.
The sieves and screens have increased the quality of the seed available across Wales Seed Hub’s catalogue and the country, and the accompanying open-source research has benefitted the wider movement; saving time, resources and doubling up on work.
For other groups and cooperatives in the UK who may wish to replicate this project, Wales Seed Hub have produced a comprehensive seed sieve video guide, including how to build your own bespoke set for a variety of seed types, accompanied by written instructions and diagrams.
The Llafur Ni (Our Grains) collective is a group of farmers and seed diversity enthusiasts working together to revive rare Welsh oats. These heritage grains – varieties such as the ceirch du (black oat), Hen Gardie, Radnoreshire Sprig and ceirch llywd (grey oat) – are all hulled, and with no oat mills left in Wales, Llafur Ni were unable to dehull their oats for human consumption. Following many years of research into small-scale solutions for oat processing (including the commissioning of a special tiny oat collider used to dehull the oats for taste tests), the network decided they needed to start purchasing collectively owned machinery and form a machinery ring.
Machinery sharing was once common; stories of the past reveal that UK farmers used to not only help one another out in the fields on harvest days and at times of crisis, but also lent their equipment to their neighbours. The recent rise in machinery rings has revived and formalised these sharing arrangements, often facilitating machinery sharing across a wider area, between farmers who may not already know one another over the field fence.
To address the bottleneck in their oat processing, Llafur Ni used their grant to purchase a collectively owned grain cleaner. As well as sharing the machinery with the network, they have produced a guide, including key consideration questions and detailed steps to help those considering purchasing shared seed processing machinery to address bottlenecks and overcome financial hurdles.
Members of our Southern, Northern and Scottish seed networks – Kirkstall Valley Farm (Leeds), Leeds Seed Savers, Hilltown Organics (Devon), The SouthWest Seed Hub, Perthshire Seed Library and Lancaster Seed Library – received a joint grant to help strengthen seed production in their respective networks.
The money went towards developing low-cost cleaning and drying equipment and hosting community build workshops, both of which have enabled local groups to improve the quality of seed they are producing. Workshops have included a zig-zag cleaner building workshop and a sieve-making workshop for the northern network.
To help extend the ripples of these enrichments further, the groups involved have produced a guide to hosting zig-zag cleaner building workshops, enabling many more farms and community groups to have access to small-scale seed cleaning equipment.
Cloughjordan Community Farm is a member-owned farm in the grounds of an eco-village. They have plans to house a new seed cleaning hub, perfectly located in the midlands of Ireland. New mobile equipment will be stored on the farm and transported to those unable to visit in person.
Their micro-grant contributed towards the purchase of a new electronic seed cleaner to kick-start the hub, enabling much larger quantities of seed to be cleaned more effectively. The seed cleaner can be used by a wide network of people across Ireland, improving access to good quality open-pollinated seed.
Cloughjordan have produced a video of their new seed cleaner and have plans to document their experiences of creating the hub, to inspire and guide others in the network.
