Exploring new, radical ways to grow a diverse and resilient food system that is productive, joyful, and farmer-led.
Modern plant breeding, geared towards high-input, industrial-scale corporate food production, has, in its efforts to increase crop yields and stamp out pests, severed seeds from their innate patterns of adaptation and renewal. Our crops have lost their diversity, and we, as growers, have lost touch with our ancestral seed practices; our confidence knocked by the uprise of ‘experts’, new technologies, and an imposed requirement for standardisation.
Among the farming community in the UK, there seems to be a deep mistrust of our skills as seed stewards. But who is more of an expert on our land than us? As farmers and growers, we are in an intimate relationship with our crops day in and day out, putting us in the best possible position to steward and guide them in a direction that is most relevant to our land and our communities.
Farmer-led plant breeding and seed stewardship offer a highly dynamic alternative to our current proprietary system of automation and uniformity. With our hands in the soil, we can work with seeds’ unique characteristics to adapt crops to both biotic and abiotic stresses. A less rigid breeding process and broader gene pool increase diversity, while seed saving allows crops to become better adapted to their locales wth each growing season. Resilient plants emerge with the adaptability, nutrition, and flavour missing from our current food system.
Spearheaded by Holly, our Future Resilience Seed Coordinator, the Crowd Breeding Network began weaving itself into existence in 2023. It aimed to exercise participatory plant breeding as a means of cultivating evolutionary populations of edible crops.
“In creating new diverse populations, we open ourselves up to a vast genetic pool to dip into in this time of climate instability. And in working collaboratively as a crowd, we can go on this journey together, sharing the risks and the joys while increasing the potential outcomes and learning opportunties.”
Participatory plant breeding brings farmers, breeders and customers together to produce crops specifically adapted to local areas, soils and markets, regaining seed sovereignty. It is a partnership that focuses on resilience and adaptation and allows natural diversity to thrive. As a crowd, growers can breed evolutionary populations of genetically diverse, promiscuously pollinating and locally adapted crops.
Evolutionary populations are formed when several varieties of a crop species (with specific desired traits) are grown together and allowed to cross-pollinate. Due to this cross-pollination, the next generation becomes a hybrid swarm, containing many hybrid plants with diverse parents. Over time, the grower begins to influence characteristics of the flock by selecting for preferred traits: flavour, disease resistance, colour.
Through selection and over time, populations become more stable but remain dynamic. Where certain traits have been selected for, others are left to roam, avoiding genetic bottlenecks. Due to the open pollination and mixed parentage, plants can have a higher genetic diversity to draw upon to learn and adapt to environmental stimuli.
Inspired by participatory plant breeding projects in the USA, the Crowd Breeding Network launched with a pilot in 2023, and after an unprecedented number of applications, there are now 28 commercial and community growers from across the UK and Ireland participating in this collaborative plant breeding project.
As the network has expanded, so has our vision. And, as well as developing these diverse populations for commercial use, we are working closely with local community groups and seed libraries to explore ways to share both this method of growing and the seed far and wide.
What started as a project is now gaining momentum, steered by our Core Coordinating Group. We are in the process of establishing our decision-making processes and group structure; it’s an emergent and exciting time for the Crowd Breeding Network!
The crowd breeding network is the tribe I have been looking for for a long time. It feels like we are doing something so out there that maybe even we haven’t realised yet just how important that is….For me, it is about the connection, community and sharing with a great bunch from all over these isles; the seeds are almost a byproduct of this wonderful conviviality. Long may it continue!
Jason Horner
Jason is a retired commercial grower in the West of Ireland, who previously grew seed crops for Brown Envelope Seeds. Formerly an advisor to the Seed Sovereignty Programme and our Ireland Coordinator from 2021-2023, Jason is now one of The Gaia Foundation’s Trustees. Alongside building a passive house, Jason continues to grow seeds and vegetables for personal use, and has been a member of the Crowd Breeding Network since its inception.
The Crowd Breeding Network feels to me like something positive I can do in the darkness of the world at the moment. Seed saving and plant breeding encourage sharing; breaking down barriers and borders; thinking about our collective pasts and our collective futures. It is slow, quiet, joyful work set against everything else in the world that seems too fast, too loud, too aggressive.
Dan Fox
Dan runs Two Acre Farm, a small, no-dig, low-carbon market garden, with his partner Anna, growing 90% of the veg for a small bag scheme with the help of voles, blue tits, owls and kestrels. His core strategy is biodiversity, and that includes natural plant breeding for truly adaptable crops, including partaking in the Mendip Rainbow broad bean project. Dan also helps organise the Bristol Seed Swap.
Holly Silvester
Grower at East Neuk Market Garden in Fife and Future Resilience Seed Coordinator for the Seed Sovereignty Programme
Erin Uí Chearbhaill
Hobby plant breeder and regenerative small producer (Erin’s Green) in NW Donegal, with a background in crop research
Tim Mitchell
Head Grower for Asthall Wild CIC and Asthall Manor Kitchen Garden in Oxford, delivering training in ecological food production
Jen Howarth
Co-founder of Moor Lane Market Garden in West Devon and part of Living Seeds CIC, a South West England Seed Hub
Chris Vernon
Commercial grower and a Director of Wales Seed Hub, living off-grid on a One Planet Development in West Carmarthenshire
Julia Spindel
Assistant grower at Trill Farm Garden in East Devon, who have been growing seed crops commercially for nearly a decade
Geoff Thomas
Retired horticulturalist establishing open-pollinated seed libraries and an active member of Cae Tan CSA based on the Gower peninsula
I got involved with the Crowd Breeding Network due to my belief that it’s vitally important for us to be doing vegetable breeding work, creating new diversity ourselves. We can’t leave this work for the big agro corporations to do what they want with at our peril. I was also curious about what modern landraces could do in the UK.
Our project has turned out to be more than I could possibly have imagined, a dedicated community of like-minded people freely sharing expert knowledge and building a shared treasury of vegetable possibility. It is the most interesting, educational and exciting project I’m involved with. And lots of fun too!
Ben Milner
Ben is a Leeds-based grower who co-runs Kirkstall Valley Farm CSA and Leeds Seed Savers.
Beth Webb
Chef, grower, and member of the Scottish Seed Hub, running Galloway Seed Garden, and producing seed resilient to Scotland’s wild, wet climate
Jack Peppiatt
Gaia’s South East England Seed Sovereignty Coordinator, a grower and a researcher, previously stewarding diverse brassica and cucurbit populations at Birch Farm in North Devon, now based in London
Meg Edwards
Community gardener and seed librarian for the Glasgow Community Seed Cooperative, providing locally adapted seeds to marginalised communities
Andrew Ormerod
Plant breeder and researcher whose interests in participatory plant breeding have taken him from the Eden Project to the USA, Canada, and Africa for his Churchill Fellowship in field tree crops
Personally, I feel empowered, enlightened and encouraged by this incredible network of growers. It’s heartwarming; ensuring a sense of abundance, adaptation and resilience transmits to the future. Aligned in seed stewardship, our combined experience, techniques, and the range of environments in which we practice all come together, for life. We don’t know what’s around the corner, but the seeds we plant carry our best efforts into the face of it.
Matt Reynolds
Matt established the UK’s Seedy Saturday/Sunday Movement, and is now Gaia’s South West England Seed Sovereignty Coordinator and the Director of Grassroots Garden CIC and Living Seeds CIC.
Tom Booth
Previous Seed Sovereignty Coordinator for Scotland, now co-running East Neuk Market Garden in Fife full time, a cooperative farm where he grows veg and, increasingly, seed
Poppy Nicol
Community food grower and seed saver based at Global Gardens Project, a community growing project based in Cardiff
Meryn Norman
Sheffield-based grower working with two local community growing projects now developing her own seed saving and community engagement plot
Louise King
Previous Scotland Seed Sovereignty Coordinator and grower for East Neuk Market Garden, now visiting market gardens and seed farms to expand her knowledge and practice
Being part of the Crowd Breeding Network is great because it’s a way to connect with other seed nerds and get more diversity into the food system.
Louise King
Lisa Houston
Grain grower, Co-Director of Edinburgh Agroecology Coop, a 100-acre urban community farm (Lauriston Farm), and co-development manager of Granton Community Gardeners
Jayne Arnold
Co-founder and head grower of Oxton Organics Market garden in the south Midlands Near Worcester
Conor O’Kane
Derry-based coordinator of the community garden seed project, Seed It Union, and part of Irish start-up organisation Community Garden Support
Christian Wulff
Co-owner of small organic seed company, Wolf Seeds, based in West Cork in Ireland
I think the start for me was Vandana Shiva’s Seed: The Untold Story and becoming aware of the corporate takeover of seed and every other element of industrial agriculture, especially in India. It wasn’t until after I started my CSA 5-6 years ago that I learnt more about the British system and how farmers are locked out here also, and that it’s up to us as seed stewards to become seed activists of a sort.
The growing nature/climate activism movement is dying out due to government clampdowns on effective protests, so the obvious solution to me is individual and collective, positive action, chipping away at the corporate behemoth hydra, one seed at a time, and bringing our communities along with us to elevate the stories that need to be told.
Daniel Sargison
Dan is the director of Grassroots Garden CIC in Redruth, growing veg for a local Community Supported Agriculture vegbox delivery scheme to improve access to nutrient-dense food, grown ecologically. His involvement in the Crowd Breeding Network has led to Dan founding a small seed company to offer his adaptive seed for sale.
If some crowd-bred seed has found its way to your growing site, let us know by registering your flock.
Finding a productive Broad Bean that consistently performs in marginal conditions was raised as an issue by many members of the group. We decided to take things into our own hands and start breeding a resilient and diverse flock of Vicia faba that can hopefully offer something for everyone in terms of its ability to perform in variable climates, and as a commercial market crop.
Holly Silvester
At East Neuk Market Garden, we are growing the broad bean flock for the third year. During this time, we’ve noticed an increase in plant health and yield, despite the challenges of a very dry spring last year, and it’s been a gift to experience the diversity of flower colours and growth habits displayed within the crop each season.
Curated for winter hardiness and delicious flavour, alongside a beautiful diversity of leaf shape, colour, and texture.
We’ve been exploring Kale’s personality. Looking beyond the homogeneity of the commercial varieties of kale on offer in the UK, and inspired by Adaptive Seeds Kale Coalition, we have allowed this naturally promiscuous crop to cross-pollinate between several varieties, with the intention of creating a diverse, functional and beautiful flock for the future.
Holly Silvester
Gifted by French plant breeder Bruno, this is an experimental project, growing out some of his F1-F4 crosses of a huge grex, and throwing in some promiscuous Excerted Orange tomatoes from Joseph Lofthouse to encourage more open flowers and continuing cross-pollination.
Beautiful shapes, textures, colours, and fantastic flavours have been stewarded through crossing up the genetics in this summer squash party mix.
The Summer Squash flock was created with flavour and beauty in mind. This crop is inherently exciting to look at and, through allowing varieties of all colours, shapes, sizes and textures to cross-pollinate, we’re inviting creative agency from both the crop and its stewards. We intend to curate a population that is, most importantly, tasty; a summer squash that fills a niche for flavour in a time of cucurbit abundance!
Holly Silvester
Wild Garden Seed
Lettuce population
Frank Morton’s 2020-2024 selections. Maintaining a diverse gene pool for resilience, but looking at stabilising promising varieties for commercial production from the mix.
Ultracross Collards
Utopian Seed Project
Supporting the work of the Utopian Seed Project, growing this diverse collection of Collard Greens across the UK and Ireland.
Desert Spirit Culinary
Landrace
Respecting the original selection criteria of Casey Piscura from Wild Mountain Seeds, we are stewarding this flock of Wild Mountain Seeds and Springtail Farm selections for flavour, size, and storability.
Spinach
flock
A flock of early spinach that is bolt-resistant and delicious.
Watch some of our recent crowdbreeding sessions, featuring stars from the seed breeding world:
The Utopian Seed Project is a hands-in-the-earth non-profit based in the Southeast USA. They cultivate, research, and celebrate resiliency in food and farming via crop diversity. Founder Chris Smith joins the group to share the project’s work and vision of an abundant and equitable ecosystem, rich in reciprocal relations of seed, land, and people.
Jen Williams, a seed grower and farmer based on Vashon Island in the US, joins the group to share her story. The vision of Wild Dreams Farm & Seed is to ensure abundance and biodiversity in our culture and in our food system for generations to come by growing food and medicines and by breeding open-pollinated vegetables, herbs, and seeds which nourish our human and more-than-human communities
Joseph’s book, ‘Growing Modern Landrances’ was one of the sources of inspiration for the Crowd Breeding Project, and his work through the Going to Seed community continues to help folks in the US, EU and beyond to experiment with diverse plant breeding. Joseph has been a mentor for the project since it’s conception; here he joins the group at the very start of their journey to share his own story and offer support and inspiration.
While in this period of emergence, busy building the scaffolding for an alternative seed system, recruitment to the Network is on hold. But Crowd Breeding projects are shooting up in regions across the UK, mentored by current members of the network, so keep an eye out for news of opportunities in your area.
Get in touch using the contact form below if you are:
Find out more ways the Seed Sovereignty Programme is sowing a diverse and resilient seed system in the UK:
Growing, sharing, and sowing agroecologically grown, open-pollinated seed for food justice, community connection, and biodiversity. Welcome to the world of seed saving.
Our regional coordinators are accompanying communities reclaiming their rights to a climate-resilient food system.
The Seed Sovereignty Programme is training growers in seed production, saving, breeding, and legislation; imparting the knowledge and skills needed for a food revolution.
