Seed Banks by Region

This directory may also contain gene banks and seedbank networks. For example the Crop Trust is working on building a global gene bank network.

International

• Crop Trust "We are dedicated to conserving and making crop diversity available for use globally, forever and for the benefit of everyone."

Asia

Bhutan

• Navdanya Community Seed Banks "Over the last 30 years, Navdanya has been conserving biodiversity through a network of seed keepers and organic producers spread across 22 states in India and Bhutan. It has helped set up more than 124 community centered, decentralized indigenous seed banks across the country, which are freeing farmers of dependence on costly commercial seeds and helping them move from vulnerability to resilience in the context of climate change."

India

• Navdanya "started establishing community seed banks and identifying seed keepers / Seed producers in different agro-ecological zones of India. These community seed banks are a step towards the identification and conservation of important traditional seed varieties. These also help in orienting the agricultural community towards conserving and cultivating the important, highly nutritive traditional crops and varieties.
  
  In the recent past Community seed banks in Navdanya working areas have helped conserve the traditional agro-biodiversity. These seed banks are being managed by the farming community itself.
  
  Till date Navdanya has set up 150 community seed banks in 22 states of India in the last 30 years. Many seed banks are now running independent of Navdanya's support.  Navdanya has also trained and created awareness amongst about 750,000 farmers in seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country. We have also established a conservation and training center at village Ramgarh in Doon Valley, in Siquanderabad in U.P. and Balasore in Orissa.
  
  More than 4000 rice varieties have been collected, saved and conserved by Navdanya in last 30 years. Forgotten food crops such as millets, pseudo-cereals and pulses have been conserved and promoted by Navdanya which were pushed out by the green revolution and expanding monocultures."

• Vrihi Rice Seed Exchange Centre "the first non-governmental rice seed bank in West Bengal. [Which has] succeeded in halting the genetic diversity loss of the rice plant and re-established the vanishing ancient culture of seed exchange in West Bengal. With over 600 traditional rice varieties cultivated in situ and distributed freely to farmers from 18 districts, Vrihi has become the largest rice seed exchange center in Eastern India. The traditional rice varieties are cultivated on Basudha farm (= 'Earth Mother' in Bengali), a small (1.7 acre) farm in the midst of paddy fields close to a forest in southwest Bengal. Basudha aims to conserve Bengal’s vanishing rice varieties; encourage, demonstrate and support organic farming and traditional methods of multiple cropping; and preserve and develop local knowledge of biodiversity and its uses. Basudha is a partner of the nationwide anti-WTO movement, and locally engaged in non-formal education and heuristic science teaching for the rural youth. Basudha also gives practical training in ecological agriculture."

Europe

Bosna and Herzegovina

• Bosna and Herzegovina (Agroecology and Community Seed Bank Initiatives

• Schola Campesina "Sharing knowledge for food sovereignty"

Ireland

• Seed Sovereignty (Interactive Map) use this link to find seed swaps, libraries, seed banks and more throughout the UK including, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Moldovia

• Gradina Moldovei / Garden of Moldova "represents a living lab of agroecological practice allowing the organization to lead in knowledge development and formation for agroecology (as defined by FAO) in Moldova. It is also a space for production of locally adaptable and culturally acceptable varieties of crops, thus being a unique source of peasant-bred seeds. It has been working with the project Eco-village in Riscova and recently tested TAPE (Tool for Agroecological Performance Evaluation) with the community members. In 2020 the organization took part in Bond project (Bringing Organizations & Network Development to Higher Levels The Farming Sector in Europe) and is currently part of the PACE Project (Peasant Agroecology in Central Asia and Eastern Europe)."

The Netherlands / Nederland

• The Living Archive "wants to safeguard the genetic diversity of wild plants by collecting seeds from native plant species and storing them in the National Seed Collection."

UK

• Seed Sovereignty (Interactive Map) use this link to find seed swaps, libraries, seed banks and more throughout the UK including, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Northern Ireland

• True Harvest Seeds: Citizen Science 4 Community Action

• True Harvest Seeds "is a registered charity in Northern Ireland. Since 2014 we have been actively promoting the native wild flowers of Ireland.
  
  We now have a seed bank with many of the native flora species; collected using ENSCONET protocols and preserved using Kew's Millennium Seed Bank methods for seed conservation. We also work to save our most endangered species in partnership with landowners, government bodies and other environmental non-government organisations.
  
  We started growing native species in 2018 and now sell 46 species on our website, we are currently in conversion to organic status. We hope that by providing seeds and plants to gardeners and community groups we will help save the flora of Ireland through availability and promotion. Funding for our work comes from the online shop, donations and from community and conservation grant funded projects."

Oceana

Australia

• Greening Australia "has seed banks in various locations across Australia, and owns one of Australia’s largest and most established seed merchants, Nindethana. We are in a unique position to be able to provide a diverse range of high-quality native seed for a wide variety of restoration projects.
  
  Our native seed services provide supplies and advice to hundreds of commercial clients, community groups and environmental restoration projects."

• The Australian PlantBank helps to protect our rich and precious biodiversity from the threat of extinction. 

Victoria

• Seedbanks & Seed Collectors in Rural Victoria (PDF) "The seedbanks and seed collectors listed here supply seed of local native (indigenous) trees, shrubs and other plants for use in the revegetation of farms, roadsides and other land in various regions of rural Victoria. The list has been prepared based on information provided by the seedbanks and collectors themselves and Greening Australia (Vic) (GA(Vic)) cannot accept responsibility for the conduct of any seedbank or collector listed."

• Seeding Victoria Inc. "was established in 1994 at the Victorian Landcare Centre, Creswick. With many years experience in the seed industry the organisation has consistently demonstrated its ability to deliver appropriately sourced indigenous seed for re-vegetation works throughout the seed bank service area.
  
  In February 2009 the organisation changed its name from the Ballarat Regional Seed Bank to Seeding Victoria Inc. to encompass the wider role the organisation undertakes to support seed supply.
  
  The organsiation provides seed for much of central, south west and western Victoria with seed banks and seed supply for Corangamite, North Central, Wimmera, Upper Glenelg Hopkins, and the Werribee Catchment through our Creswick, Swan Hill and Wimmera locations.
  
  Please email or call and talk to us about your needs for indigenous seed, or your interest in supplying us with indigenous seed."

South America

Peru

• Camino Verde "With over 400 native tree species planted to date, Camino Verde’s reforestation centers and tree nurseries form a one-of-a-kind Living Seed Bank of Amazonian biodiversity. Our database currently includes 663 plant species planted at our centers."

Programs

Europe

UK

Northern Ireland

• True Harvest Seeds: Citizen Science 4 Community Action