Voting in Brussels yesterday saw last minute conciliatory amendments made to new seed regulations that would otherwise have criminalised virtually all seeds exchanged in the European Union, according to sustainable farm groups and seed bank operators.

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The small organisations, with the backing of consumer groups and some Member State governments, had pushed desperately to secure changes to the Regulation on Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material – new seed laws proposed by the European Commission's consumer affairs branch (DG Sanco), but which were opposed by DG Agri and DG Envi, the two EU directorates that deal directly with agriculture.

Under the new rules, which form part of a revision of EU law that aims to cut 70 pieces of food safety legislation down to just 5, it will become illegal to grow, reproduce or trade any vegetable seed or tree that has not been tested and approved by the new EU Plant Variety Agency, which will be formed to handle the regulations. The agency will require an annual fee for regulating and approving seeds; if this is not paid, permission to grow seeds will be withdrawn.

The laws initially covered almost all uses of seeds – including heritage seed libraries, gardeners and small-scale growers; the UK's Garden Organic organisation, which operates the Heritage Seed Bank, estimated last month that, if passed without amendment, the regulatory changes could cost seed sharing networks such as its own thousands of pounds each year and prevent growers from sharing seeds unless they are licensed. Garden Organic estimated the potential cost to its own seed library would be £800,000 each year, to cover 800 varieties of plant seed.

The Commission said its reforms are intended to simplify and improve existing legislation and protect the EU seed sector, which accounts for sixty per cent of the world export value in seeds. The EU executive maintains that its new 'better regulation agenda' takes factors such as type of material, production conditions and business size into account, and will protect niche varieties of seed.

In a statement, the Commission assured that "for old traditional varieties and for heterogeneous material, there are only light registration rules. Such categories are exempted from the testing and other requirements of the legislation."

The measures are supported by industrial farm groups, including the NFU in the UK. The Farmers' union said last week that claims by small farming organisations and seed libraries "are misleading and distract from the real issues facing modern farming."

NFU combinable crops board chairman Andrew Watts elaborated, "The ever increasing emphasis and public demand for traceability and product authenticity should not be ignored. Seed reproduction is at the heart of food security and as a result we must approach this review of legislation with consumer protection in mind, rather than allow it to be marginalised." 

Nevertheless, in a damning indictment of the new rules, Ben Gabel, vegetable breeder and director of The Real Seed Catalogue, accused the Commission of "interfering with the right of people to grow what they want, and charging fees for the use of plants that were domesticated and bred by the public over thousands of years of small-scale agriculture."

Last minute amendments secure reprieves for small growers

On Monday last-minute alterations were made to the draft legislation, which reduced the potential impact of the new laws. The concessionary measures include:

• An allowance for home gardeners to save and swap unapproved seed without breaking the law.
• Permission for businesses of less than ten employees, seedbanks and individual gardeners to grow, swap and sell unapproved vegetable seed.
• A potential allowance for some larger seed producers (such as those involved in organic agriculture) to benefit from a lighter regulatory touch, though the specifics of this possible measure were not entered into.

The Commission claimed on Monday that it had reduced the administrative burden "for micro-enterprises who can market any type of material as 'niche market material' without registration," and exempted such businesses from registration fees. 

However, although they welcomed the concessions as a positive development, organisations including heritage seed sellers The Real Seed Catalogue said their concerns persist. They warned that much of the proposed law remains "overly restrictive," and as such will affect availability of a healthy, biodiverse range of plants, and hinder growers' ability to access niche seeds.

Ben Raskin, Head of Horticulture for the Soil Association commented in the run up to Monday's reading, "The proposed regulation goes even further than the current European seed law which favours the production of uniform varieties (protected by plant breeder's rights) and discriminates against less homogenous open pollinated varieties and populations. This has already resulted in a non-reversible loss of agro-biodiversity."

There are also concerns over the retention of clauses that could see Monday's hard-won concessions removed in the future without recourse to the European Parliament.

Heritage breeder slams draft law

Real Seed Catalogue's Ben Gabel commented on the outcome of Monday's compromise amendments, "The draft law was truly awful, and it is good to see that the Commission have responded to the hundreds of thousands of citizens who raised their voices against it. They have made important concessions for home growers and small farmers; though it is a shame they did not think of them in the first place."

Adding that the consequences of the changes could go beyond the predicted impacts on small farmers and gardeners, he continued, "There will be very little professional development of varieties for home gardeners or small-scale sustainable agriculture. The law will reduce the choice available to large farmers too.

"In some cases it will only allow new varieties of vegetable if they are tested and proven to be better than ones currently on the list. This is foolish, often you don't discover the benefits of a new variety until you've been growing it for several years, for example when a new disease comes along... In a free market, it should be up to farmers to try out any new crop they like and decide what variety is best based on their own experience."

Ben concluded, "This law was written for the needs of the globalised farm-seed industry, who supply seed by the ton to industrial farmers. It should not apply at all to seed used by home gardeners and small market growers, who have very different needs. We call for a total exemption from the law for seed supplied in small packets directly to individual consumers."

The Campaign for Seed Sovereignty declared in a statement directed at EU legislators, "The currently available texts for the new EU seed regulation will promote a concentration of the seed market into the hands of a small number of seed industry corporations. This is unacceptable.

"Diverse varieties must be available not only in gene banks, but on the open market too. Registration criteria must be lowered for varieties suitable for organic farming by virtue of their diversity, so our agriculture remains adaptable to climate change, new pests and diseases, as well as more environmentally friendly lifestyles."

Having passed through voting in the Commission, the regulations will now go before the European Parliament. The new regulations are due to enter into force in 2016.

The latest version of the draft law is available here