Community seedbanks in Europe: their role between ex situ and on-farm conservation

REVIEW AND POSITION PAPER Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 DOI: 10.46265/genresj.OHNK3179 https://www.genresj.org ISSN: 2708-3764 Community seedbanks in Europe: their role between ex situ and on-farm conservation Riccardo Boccia, Bela Barthab, Helene Maierhoferc, Michaela Arndorfercand Michele Salvana aRete Semi Rurali ETS, Scandicci, Italy bPro Specie Rara, Wildegg (AG), Switzerland cArche Noah, Seed Savers Association in Central Europe, Schiltern, Austria Abstract: This article enlightens the role of community seedbanks (CSBs) in Europe within the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture community and their role in the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in complementarity with the ex situ management system. For more than 40 years, CSBs around the world have emerged as part of the so-called informal seed system to counteract the loss of locally adapted varieties through the development of collective seed systems. Most of the studies and articles refer to experiences from the Global South, whereas a comprehensive analysis of the impact and role of CSBs on seed systems in industrialized countries is still missing. This paper provides three case studies describing the community seed banking experience of different European organizations: Pro Specie Rara (Switzerland), Arche Noah (Austria) and Rete Semi Rurali (Italy). These organizations exemplify the diversity among European CSBs and their efforts to engage with genebanks and the formal seed system. Keywords: community seedbanks, agrobiodiversity, participatory plant breeding, on-farm conservation, seed networks Citation: Bocci, R., Bartha, B., Maierhofer, H., Arndorfer, M., Salvan, M. (2025). Community seedbanks in Europe: their role between ex situ and on-farm conservation. Genetic Resources (S2), 147–161. doi: 10.46265/genresj.OHNK3179. © Copyright 2025 the Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction This article describes the role of community seedbanks (CSBs) in Europe in the plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) community and their contribution to the conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity in complementarity with the ex situ management system. Recently, two EU Horizon projects (DYNAVERSITY: www.dynaversity.eu and Farmers’ Pride: https://more.bham.ac.uk/farmerspride/ ) have worked on this complementarity promoting the emergence of a European network of actors involved in PGRFA conservation and use. Both projects have involved CSBs in their activities and developed manuals and guidelines for the management of CSBs in connection with public genebanks. But what are the main differences between CSBs and genebanks? If the complementarity between ex situ and onfarm conservation of PGRFA has been accepted by the scientific community in the last 20 years, less attention has been given to investigating the role of CSBs in relation to these two systems. Only a few scholars have studied such collective endeavours (Vernooy et al,2015) while national seed policies hardly include CSBs among the relevant institutions for conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA. A quantitative study on the impact of CSBs and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the European conservation system of PGRFA is still lacking. Many questions about their role can be addressed. How can they act as an intermediate between genebanks and farmers/gardeners? How can they increase the awareness of citizens on biodiversity conservation? How can they work with public research centres to support participatory plant breeding programmes? How can they diversify European seed systems and, subsequently, food systems? It becomes important to better understand the functions as well as the practical and collective actions of CSBs, based on concrete experiences. This article aims to fill this gap, presenting three case studies from Italy, Switzerland and Austria, based on the Received: 03.12.2024 Accepted: 11.03.2025 Published online: 04.04.2025 148 Bocci et al Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 personal experiences of the authors, who work with the three organizations, and on the results of surveys and workshops organized within the framework of four EUfunded research projects – DIVERSIFOOD (https://div ersifood.eu/), DYNAVERSITY, Farmers’ Pride and PROGRACE (https://www.grace-ri.eu/pro-grace). Genebanks and CSBs should not be considered as competitors but as complementary actors, each having specific objectives, targets and rules as summarized in Table 1 (Bartha et al,2021). Perhaps the most relevant difference is that genebanks are committed to the long-term conservation of PGRFA and to granting facilitated access to a wide range of users, while CSBs aim at short-term conservation and easy availability of seed for the aims of the community managing the CSB. This complementarity means that together, they can contribute to creating inclusive and integrated conservation strategies at national and regional levels. Community seedbanks in Europe For more than 40 years, CSBs around the world have emerged as part of the so-called informal seed system to counteract the loss of locally adapted varieties through the development of collective seed systems (Vernooy et al,2015). Most of the studies and articles on the subject refer to experiences from the Global South. However, a comprehensive analysis of the impact and role of CSBs on seed systems in industrialized countries is still missing. In 2017, within the framework of the European project DIVERSIFOOD, a group of seed networks including Arche Noah, Rete Semi Rurali (RSR), ProSpecieRara (PSR), R´ eseau Semences Paysannes (RSP) and Red de Semillas (RdS) organized a regional survey on CSBs in Europe, to start understanding their distinctive features. The results of the survey, briefly presented in this paper, showed the great diversity of initiatives in terms of age, size and internal structures. Differences emerged also in their approaches to PGRFA management, with some leaning towards a more ‘dynamic management’ approach. Since 2005, the number of CSBs in Europe seems to be rapidly growing, at least in some regions (Koller and Bocci,2018). The first CSBs in Europe were established in Northern and Central European countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), mainly by seed saver organizations and managed by gardeners. The US-based Seed Savers Exchange inspired the birth of many of these organizations. The UK Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library, known at the time as Henry Doubleday Research Association, was founded in 1975. ProSpecieRara (Switzerland) was founded in 1982 and Arche Noah (Austria) in 1990. Since then, other organizations have sprung up in European countries, with an accelerated increase occurring since the mid-2000s, especially in France and Spain. The DIVERSIFOOD survey was able to map only a few experiences from south-eastern Europe. The survey revealed that there is not one type of CSB that fits all. This diversity is related to the fact that CSBs in Europe have followed two different pathways. In the older CBSs in Europe, mainly from central and northern Europe, private gardeners had a key role, following the example of the seed savers in Australia and the USA. On the contrary, in southern Europe small farmers played a major role, adapting the experiences of social movements in the Global South, where CSBs emerged to provide seeds to farmers in marginal areas or after conflict. However, most experiences converge around the key ideas of diversity, conservation, exchange, community and sovereignty. Regardless of the crop, most of the accessions they conserve are landraces, farmers’ varieties, old commercial varieties (open-pollinated varieties) or breeding populations. What is important to note is that many initiatives have moved from just conservation to more dynamic approaches, where participatory and decentralized plant breeding plays an increasing role. This change was achieved through dedicated training activities for all the members of the CSBs, which raised awareness of breeding for diversity and local adaptation. Many CSBs have also been able to create strong links with citizens, often using public campaigns focused on the importance of plant and seed diversity, and protecting local varieties. Through these activities, they have promoted more diversified, sustainable and resilient food systems that are better suited to face climate challenges. The main obstacles raised by the participants to the survey have been the lack of financial resources and an enabling legal environment. In fact, seed and food policies have often promoted uniform and formal seed systems, through regulations on seed marketing. For example, the interpretation of seed exchanged by farmers varies across countries in Europe: some countries allow it, while others consider it as commercialization following the rules of seed marketing. Only recently more diversity entered this picture with the concept of Conservation Varieties (EU Commission directives 62/2008 (EU,2008), 145/2009 (EU,2009) and 60/2010 (EU,2010)), even if its impact is still questioned (Didonna et al,2024). Networking and cooperation as well as mutual support and social learning have been indicated as strategies to overcome these barriers. Within this large and diversified movement of seed conservation, sharing and breeding, the idea of creating a European umbrella organization emerged as members of different CSBs started connecting through European meetings. In 2005, European seed networks organized the first European meeting – ‘Let’s Liberate Diversity’ – in Poitiers, France. After that meeting, RSP, RSR and RdS started the process of formalizing a regional-wide organization which would group the different associations involved in seed saving, on-farm conservation and agrobiodiversity management. After seven years of negotiations and meetings, the European Coordination Let’s Liberate Diversity (ECLLD) was formally registered in 2012 as a non-profit organization in Belgium, and as of Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 Community seedbanks in Europe 149 Table 1. The main conceptual framework of community seedbanks (CSBs) and genebanks (Bartha et al,2021). Genebank Community seedbank Organizational structure Public Institution From single-person initiatives to community-based organizations (association, foundation, network without legal status, etc.). Centralized structure Partly decentralized (network structure) Actors Employees (scientists, practitioners), occasionally farmers and breeders (if project available) Network member volunteers (gardeners, farmers, horticulturists, etc.), employees (scientists, practitioners). Funding structure State, public–private partnerships (PPP), projects Private (members, sponsors, foundations, etc.), public (European, state, region, municipality), commercial activities, non-profit organizations (NPO) Communication strategy; Know-how transfer Towards scientific and breeder community. Case by case policymakers too. Specific and science-focused communication. Specific communication to farmers. Broad public (sponsors, donors), practitioners (farmers, gardeners, horticulturists), governmental decision-makers and politicians. Integrative and comprehensive communication. Quality management for plant genetic resources Aiming at a common and internationally agreed certification system based on protocols and standardized procedures. Monitoring only internal genebank activities. Aiming at quality systems that are best adapted to the needs and actual situation (financial and structural) of the CSB. Monitoring is based on the control of the whole network. Choice of plant material Based on national breeding programmes, genebank managers’ interest, national agrobiodiversity strategy (if existent). Only recently international coordination and sharing of responsibilities (e.g. AEGIS, A European Genebank Integrated System). Based on CSB strategy developed by network members based on public or founder’s interests as well as financial and network capacity. Often local, national or regional focus. Breeding Providing PGR for breeders for targeted breeding activities mostly for resistance. Aiming at specific and homogenous varieties. Varieties adapted to industrial agriculture. Evolutionary breeding mostly aims for tolerance. Varieties with a less homogenous calibration spectrum. Aiming at varieties that keep their adaptation capacity to different agricultural systems. Governance Public mission based on national and international law/agreements/protocols Based on common agreed values, shared visions and missions and agreed statutes and bylaws. Social aspects are key. Hierarchic, top-down From hierarchic to democratic structures, bottom-up Bound to governmental obligations Civil society organizations, representing the interests of the community Access to materials Mainly through the easy standard material transfer agreement (SMTA) and the rules of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) It could vary from one CSB to another. There are CSBs fully compliant with ITPGRA, others that have specific mutually agreed terms Type of materials Mainly old varieties and landraces in the public domain. Some conserve also breeding lines or commercial varieties with dedicated access rules From old varieties and landraces in the public domain to new heterogeneous materials bred through participatory breeding programmes 2024, it brings together 22 organizations from 21 countries, encompassing over 170 national organizations. ECLLD is dedicated to promoting the dynamic management of cultivated biodiversity and farmer-led seed systems across Europe and aims to bring diversity back into our food systems. By connecting CSBs, researchers, civil society groups, seed savers, and farmers, ECLLD operates through three core focus areas: policy, community seedbanks, and communities. As a platform for policy engagement, ECLLD supports capacity-building initiatives and fosters exchanges among its members to enhance their advocacy efforts toward policies and regulations that promote and sustain agrobiodiversity. In the area of CSBs, ECLLD empowers local groups by facilitating knowledge sharing, supporting exchanges on practices, and the integration of participatory plant breeding (see as reference the three Technical Manuals on CSBs, Galluzzi et al (2021c,b,a)https://liberate diversity.org/knowledge/readings/). Finally, through its work on communities, ECLLD fosters peer-to-peer learning, enabling stakeholders to share practices, exchange experiences, innovate, build connections and collectively 150 Bocci et al Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 drive action on cultivated diversity. Events like the Let’s Liberate Diversity and Let’s Cultivate Diversity forums, are central to these community-building efforts (for further details visit www.liberatediversity.org). Three case studies Our case studies describe the CSB experience of three different European organizations which are ECLLD members: Pro Specie Rara (PSR, Switzerland), Arche Noah (Austria) and Rete Semi Rurali (RSR, Italy). They were chosen since they exemplify the diversity among European CSBs and are well connected to their respective national systems for PGRFA conservation. Moreover, the three organizations have all made efforts, although in different ways, to engage with the so-called formal seed systems, with activities such as seed marketing, registration of local varieties/populations, characterization of the accessions conserved and traceability of the work of the CSBs through dedicated databases. For each organization, we will describe the history, turning points, PGRFA managing system, the networks they are involved in and their perspectives. A brief summary of the main characteristics of the three organizations is presented in Table 2. They have different members (single persons in the case of PSR and Arche Noah, and other organizations for RSR), activities (PSR is working also on animal breeds), facilities and access rules. PSR and RSR have integrated the easy standard material transfer agreement (SMTA) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) for providing accessions for research and breeding, meanwhile Arche Noah has its own access rules with an obligatory compliance check: if companies or organizations work with GMOs or patents, they are excluded from seed access. Rete Semi Rurali History Rete Semi Rurali (RSR) is the Italian seed network, an umbrella non-profit association grouping organizations involved in the sustainable use of agrobiodiversity, within an agroecological framework. RSR was set up in 2007 by seven founders; in 2024 it consisted of 36 profit and non-profit members. RSR’s mission is to diversify our food systems, starting from seeds and varieties. Its projects are directed primarily towards increasing diversity in agricultural systems, starting with the management of diversified seed systems in organic farming. RSR’s strategy aims to recognize the role of farmers and other actors in breeding and seed production and enable a legal framework for the dynamic management of agrobiodiversity (Bocci and Galluzzi,2015). RSR activities cover four different work areas: 1. Action research: this area supports the diversification of agricultural systems, by promoting a different model of agricultural research which brings research back to farmers’ fields (decentralization) and involves different food system actors (participation). 2. Community seedbanking: this area supports diversified seed systems by promoting CSB development at a local level (see Figure 1). 3. Communities: working on seeds means working with the communities that grow them, process and consume their products. RSR works to build and support vibrant communities in which food system actors interact with each other, being aware of their complexity and diversity. 4. Policies: to promote changes in agricultural systems, it is necessary to build a political, legal, economic and social environment that makes these possible. RSR is active in fostering this enabling environment at local, regional, national and European levels. In 2013, after the ECLLD meeting Let’s Cultivate Diversity in Tuscany, RSR started to create its own CSB dedicated to different cereal species. Subsequently, the CSB expanded its structures and functions, engaging new members, opening hubs in new regions, establishing field trials for different crops, and engaging the communities in the evaluation of varieties and sensory analysis of the products (Petitti et al,2022). Great emphasis was placed on participatory approaches to bottomup seed system innovation, focused on the development and dissemination of dynamic crop populations and their management within organic farming systems (De Santis et al,2022). The concept of Community Biodiversity Management (DeBoeuf et al,2013) was adopted, believing in its great potential for change and adaptation, and for making agricultural systems the places where site-specific innovation takes place. Each year, RSR’s CSB organizes two seed distribution campaigns, one for winter and one for spring crops, through which a catalogue of landraces and populations is released and from which farmers or gardeners can ask for small seed samples. RSR has developed a dedicated material transfer agreement to trace the exchange of the materials and keep track of the flows from the CSB. The samples distributed are small, but generally larger than the ones of formal genebanks. For more uniform varieties, RSR provides around 200 or 300gr and for populations up to 2kg, to avoid reducing the diversity by sampling a small amount of seeds. In 2019, RSR inaugurated its new headquarters, called the House of Agrobiodiversity, a multifunctional space, which includes the first agrobiodiversity library in Italy, a fully operational seedbank and a training centre. In 2022 RSR launched DIVERSITAS – the Digital Ecosystem of RSR. It collects and manages all the accessions in the CSB and the data from the experimental fields. DIVERSITAS is designed to track the flow of seeds in and out of the CSB. Turning points From 2010–2019, thanks to EU projects SOLIBAM (w ww.solibam.eu) and DIVERSIFOOD, RSR moved from Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 Community seedbanks in Europe 151 Table 2. Main features of Rete Semi Rurali, ProSpecieRara and Arche Noah Rete Semi Rurali ProSpecieRara Arche Noah Date of founding 2007 1982 1990 Website https://rsr.bio www.prospecierara.ch www.arche-noah.at Legal structure Non-profit organization; Umbrella org. Foundation Association Board, staff 5 board members, 2 employees, 15 consultants 7 board members, 35 employees 9 board members, 57 employees (approx. 39 full-time equivalents) Members 35 entities (profit and non-profit) 13,000 donors and 4,400 active seed savers and rare-breed holders. Farmers, breeders, gardeners, researchers, etc. 10,000 members + 7,000 extra donors Mission Diversification of farming and seed systems Maintain and promote the genetic and cultural diversity of plants and animals. Conservation and development of crop diversity in regional and Europe-wide networks and advocacy for an enabling policy framework Main collections 3,487 accessions. Crops: soft and durum wheat, barley, rye, oat, other cereals, rice, maize, tomato, sunflower, soybean, chickpea, bean and lupine. 5,600 cultivated plants and 32 rare breeds 5,500 seed accessions and 550 fruit cultivars Main activities Central seed storage (climatic chamber and freezer). Database: DIVERSITAS. Central seed storage (climatic chamber and freezer), tuber storage facility (climatic chamber), nursery and greenhouse and tunnel. Webpage for seed and breeds exchange. Database for dynamic on-farm management Central seed storage (climatic chamber and freezer), one visitor’s garden and one multiplication garden incl. tunnels. Online shop and shop in the visitor’s garden. Internal and external database. Main network activities Seed saving, knowledge exchange, courses, markets, collection holders, data collection, breeding Seed saving, knowledge exchange, courses, markets, collection holders, data collection, Seed saving and regular multiplication incl. data collection, educational programme with approx. 50 courses per year, political campaigning, participatory vegetable breeding networks, Arche Noah Diversity Farms Main projects (2024 status) Implementing the ITPGRFA in Italy, ECPGR EVA Network, 5 Horizon Europe projects 72 different projects; Label for PSR products; Horizon 2020 projects; Projects within the frame of the national action plan for PGRFA No patent on seeds-campaign, Participatory vegetable breeding, Fruit Monitoring Austria, Supporting community biodiversity management in South-Eastern Europe via Small-Scale Grants. Online seed savers index the mere preservation of local varieties and landraces to actively breeding for diversity, developing evolutionary populations of soft and durum wheat (Triticum aestivum L. and T. turgidum subsp. durum (Desf.) Husn.), and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). This work on participatory and decentralized plant breeding, and in particular on evolutionary populations, was done in collaboration with Dr Salvatore Ceccarelli, a breeder who worked at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), one of the SOLIBAM partners, and then directly with RSR. ICARDA’s evolutionary populations of soft and durum wheat and barley were evaluated and tested in different and contrasting farming environments (Bocci et al,2020;Ceccarelli and Grando,2020). This move from agrobiodiversity conservation to breeding for diversity was the first important turning point in the history of RSR. Over time, the work on wheat and barley was expanded to other crops: rice (Oryza sativa L.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), oat (Avena sativa L.), lupin (Lupinus 152 Bocci et al Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 Figure 1. Community seedbank at Rete Semi Rurali albus L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and recently other legumes, following the increasing interest among farmers in crop populations for organic farming systems. In the beginning, the populations remained within RSR’s network and were exchanged during the seed campaigns, since marketing this kind of seed was not legally possible. In 2014, a second relevant turning point occurred: thanks to the lobbying done by SOLIBAM partners, mainly the Organic Research Centre (UK), Fibl (Switzerland), Itab (France) and RSR, the European Commission opened the space for marketing the seeds of these populations by an experimental derogation (EU Commission implementing decision 150/2014 (EU, 2014)). Using this derogation, RSR supported farmers to engage in the process of seed production, multiplication and marketing of the populations they were growing and adapting, by registering as small seed companies. In 2017, the first soft wheat population was officially certified by public authorities and two farmers (one in Tuscany and one in Sicily) started marketing its seeds. At the same time, RSR developed its label for the seed packages using and adapting the open-source pledge promoted by the Open Source Seed Initiative in the US (https://osseeds.org). The last relevant turning point was the approval of the new EU regulation 848/2018 (EU,2018) on organic production and labelling of organic products that entered into application in January 2022. This regulation created a new varietal category, the Organic Heterogeneous Material (OHM), which took up the concept of populations contained in the Decision of 2014. Since then, RSR has worked to support the implementation of OHM in Italy, notifying one rice, one sunflower and one soft wheat OHM. Collaboration with institutions Since its foundation, RSR has collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture, being one of three partners of the national programme for the implementation of the ITPGRFA. This programme involves 29 research facilities of the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis (CREA), the Institute of Plant Genetics of the National Research Council (CNR) in Bari and RSR. Thanks to the programme, RSR supports its CSB as well as the Italian delegation within the ITPGRFA framework on negotiations related to the sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity and Farmers’ Rights. Thanks to the above national programme and its involvement in Horizon projects, RSR has developed dedicated agreements with a range of European organizations, including one with the CNR genebank in Bari for the multiplication and regeneration of some of the accessions conserved there. Other agreements on participatory and decentralized plant breeding have been signed with the Universities of Florence, Bari, Turin, Milano Bicocca, Viterbo and the Sant’Anna Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 Community seedbanks in Europe 153 School of Advanced Studies in Pisa. The aim of these agreements is to place RSR as an intermediary organization between the public research system and farmers. Networks RSR is a member of several Italian alliances and networks including Azione TerrAE, the Coalition for Agroecological Transition (https://azioneterrae.com). This coalition is made up of 7 international cooperation associations (ACRA, CISV, COSPE, DEAFAL, LVIA, Mani Tese, Terra Nuova) and two Italian and European civil society networks (RSR and Agroecology Europe), engaged in experimentation, promotion, training and dissemination of different aspects of agroecology, involving both research and farmers’ organizations. Azione TerrAE plays a crucial role in the promotion of agroecology in Italy and West Africa, while the role of RSR is to strengthen the link between good farming practices and seed systems, putting the development of diversified seed systems at the core of activities of the Coalition. At the national level, RSR has also been involved in the campaign Cambiamo Agricoltura, which unites over 70 organizations actively engaged in the negotiations of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). At the European level, RSR is a full member of the European Consortium for Organic Plant Breeding (ECOPB, https://www.eco-pb.org/), which aims at facilitating knowledge exchange and supporting breeding programmes for organic farming. As mentioned, RSR is one of the founding associations of the European Coordination Let’s Liberate Diversity. At the international level, RSR is a member of the Global Coalition of Open Source Seed Initiatives (GOSSI, https://www.opensourceseeds.org/en/go ssi), an international coalition of organizations, individuals (farmers, seed keepers, plant breeders, activists) working to ensure that seeds can be freely used and shared in perpetuity. RSR contributes actively to the debate and negotiations on the European regulatory framework and is involved within the ITPGRFA in the development of policies on the sustainable use of PGRFA and Farmers’ Rights. Perspectives RSR has become a complex, inclusive and dynamic network dealing with local field experimentations as well as international processes. It aims to maintain a fruitful dialogue among practitioners, researchers and policymakers. Its work demonstrates that we must enlarge the vision of agrobiodiversity, focusing not only on mere conservation but on innovation and breeding for diversity, i.e. delivering new varieties that are sufficiently diverse (rather than narrowly responding to the standard criteria of distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) of modern varieties) to be able to adapt to climate change and low-input farming systems. The belief in the importance of diversifying seed, farming and food systems is the reason why RSR has recently moved towards projects and research activities that involve not only seed diversification and breeding but also intercropping, rotations and soil microbiome. These will be the challenges for RSR in the coming years. Regarding the CSB and its database DIVERSITAS, the next steps will be the possibility of implementing the ITPGRFA easy SMTA directly from its website for the accessions distributed from the CSB and the digital object identifier (DOI) for some of the conserved accessions. ProSpecieRara History PSR was founded in 1982 in St. Gallen (Switzerland) and its first activities were related to safeguarding rare breeds. In 1985, collecting activities for fruits, field crops and vegetables started. In 1988, the first employee was hired with a fixed salary. Around the same time, the network of seed savers was established and the seedbank (called ‘seed library’) was founded. Very successful TV broadcasts and some national exhibitions about rare breeds and fruit varieties organized by PSR and its partners and volunteers helped to raise awareness among the broader public. In the 1990s, the first private foundations started funding the projects of PSR and private donors supported the organization as well as many volunteers who helped to propagate seeds as seed savers. In addition, many breeders joined the different breeding associations created by PSR to coordinate the conservation of the different endangered breeds. After 15 years of existence, PSR encountered about 2,000 donors, 250 seed savers and over 2,000 breeders organized in 15 different breeding associations. Turning points The first important turning point for PSR’s activities was the ratification of the Convention of Biological Diversity by Switzerland in 1995, followed by the development of the National Plan of Action for the Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (NAPPGRFA) in 1998. The Department of Agriculture decided to create the Swiss Commission for the Conservation of Cultivated Plants (SKEK/CPC) in which PSR became a leading member of the governing body to implement the NAP-PGRFA. This mandate was and still is accompanied by some funds (3.2 million CHF per year). At the time, the Commission developed a conservation strategy with conservation standards for various crops and a national database that relates to the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO). PSR’s own database has an interface with the national database to transfer and exchange passport and characterization data. Today about 15% of the turnover of PSR is covered by these public funds. A second important turning point was the collaboration with COOP, the biggest supermarket chain in Switzerland. Together with this impactful partner, PSR participated in one of the biggest national exhibitions called EXPO02, which attracted millions of people over 154 Bocci et al Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 six months. The interest of the visitors in the topic was so big that COOP decided to fix the collaboration through a contract. This collaboration has lasted until today. Accordingly, PSR’s focus shifted more and more from pure conservation towards the sustainable use and development of PGRFA. PSR developed a label for the promotion of traditional and endangered varieties to keep or reintroduce them in the value chain. Aside from the COOP outlet, farmers and horticulturists who are part of the PSR conservation network use this label for their own marketing activities, helping them showcase the added value of their products to consumers. In 2023, PSR’s database revealed that about 600 people use the PSR label and surveys reported that around 30% of the Swiss population know this label. Another important turning point in the Swiss PGRFA conservation activities occurred when the Government implemented article 147a in the agriculture law (SR 910 1 Art. 147a LwG): ”The Confederation may promote the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources. It may manage genebanks and conservation collections or have them managed and support measures such as in situ conservation, in particular with financial contributions.” Under this provision, PSR and other stakeholders in this field could apply for funding for activities going beyond pure conservation such as on-farm development and improvement of PGRFA. Thanks to the development of a suitable legal framework (e.g. the national long-term strategy for PGRFA and its accompanying measures) as well as through adequate funding opportunities, PSR was able to grow further, engaging new stakeholders for on-farm management of PGRFA. Today governmental financial support constitutes only about 20% of their total turnover but is still crucial because it guarantees the financing of conservation activities that depend on a long-term financing source (e.g. on-farm fruit and berry collections). Development and monitoring ProSpecieRara went on to develop its network of seed savers (for vegetable species) and collection holders (for fruits and berries). Today, 400 seed savers maintain 1,208 vegetable varieties, 270 people care for 1,012 ornamentals, 1,000 people host 2,436 fruit and 422 berries varieties all over the country. The PSR staff is responsible for managing the network and monitoring conservation activities. For seeds, this work is facilitated by the central seed library, located in Wildegg (AG) and consisting of a climatized room with 2,000 accessions stored as seeds. This repository functions as a backup of the in situ collection, with seed savers regularly sending back a reference seed lot of the variety/accession they maintain and regenerate. The reference lots are sown in PSR’s different demonstration gardens, where quality and varietal identity are verified. All the exchanges between the seed savers and PSR are registered in a specific database for on-farm conservation and can be traced back. Every year, the 1,653 label holders (i.e. registered and validated seed savers) receive a request to fill in a checklist to describe the status of the genetic resources they are maintaining. This checklist is provided by PSR on its portal (https://www.prospecier ara.ch/it.html). Based on the results of this monitoring activity, PSR delivers a report about the status of each of the 5,600 accessions maintained by the people of the network. This report also allows the seed library manager to establish how many seed lots are in the genebank and their storage time. The manager will also know how many seed savers are maintaining the accession, how many are marketing seeds, fresh and processed products and how many of them are offering seeds on the variety finder portal of PSR. By compiling all this information, that is facilitated by the database, the manager can judge the conservation status of an accession and decide if an accession is endangered and must be propagated quickly or not. In addition, different training courses are organized for beginners and advanced seed savers to improve their knowledge and skills. Sustainable use Over time, PSR’s activities shifted more and more from pure conservation to sustainable use of PGRFA and the development and improvement of varieties, e.g. for niche markets and with niche varieties. The shift of PSR’s activities towards sustainable use was backed by a national law (SR 916.151.1 Art. 2.4 - 2.7, 27, 29) for the marketing of seeds brought into force in 2010: besides registered and certified varieties, a new category called ‘niche varieties’ was created to include varieties that don’t fulfil the DUS criteria. The government considered that certain varieties could be very interesting for niche markets or small-scale farmers or private gardeners (see Figure 2). Allowing to register these varieties and being able to place them on the market would enrich the diversity of vegetables and field crops in the fields and on consumers’ tables. This positive legal environment led to breeding activities to improve landraces, minor or ‘opportunity’ crops, or develop populations, with the support of government and private (e.g. COOP) funds. Some of the breeding activities included participatory methods and, in some cases, citizen participation when a broader range of information about plant growth and development in different agricultural and horticultural contexts had to be collected and compiled. While often breeding activities take the form of mass selection to advance a population variety, in some cases, crossbreeding is the only way to make a variety fit for on-farm utilization (see Table 3). Further development as a CSB In the future, open-pollinated crops will become even more important for alternative, independent, locally adapted and innovative agricultural systems, a grassroots alternative to hybrids that are more and more taking over intensive and industrial agricultural production of food (IPES-Food,2016). On the other hand, citizens Genetic Resources (2025), (S2), 147–161 Community seedbanks in Europe 155 Figure 2. Carrot variety ‘Gniff’ from Ticino from Pro Specie Rara collections being commercialized Table 3. Cross-breeding activities initiated by ProSpecieRara (PSR) for new niche varieties Species Varieties Origin Breeding Daucus carota ‘Gniffola’ Landrace ‘Gniff’ x ‘Purple Haze’ Sativa Rheinau, 2012–ongoing Solanum lycopersicum ‘Cuore di Bue’ ‘Cuore di Bue’ x resistant varieties against Cladosporium sp. Sativa Rheinau, 2012–ongoing Brassica rapa subsp. rapa ‘Albedo Viola’ (rejected name) ‘Guringa’ Several old varieties of PSR, the Swiss Genebank and from commerce landrace ‘Bosco Gurin’ x several varieties of the same type Sativa Rheinau, 2016–2024 Allium cepa ‘Piri’ Old variety ‘Birnenf¨ ormige’ x (‘Yankee F1’ x (‘Rijnsburger’ x ‘Yankee F1’) ) Sativa Rheinau, 2012–2022 Tragopogon porrifolius Salsify populations 11 salsify lines from PSR, the Swiss Genebank and from commerce PSR & Sativa Rheinau together with PSR network (participatory breeding), 2024–ongoing Cucurbita pepo var. cylindrica Striped zucchini Old variety ‘De Gˆ enes Stri´ ee Vert-Jaune’ x other striped zucchini Sativa Rheinau, 2024–ongoing are increasingly interested in agroecological food production systems that foster biodiversity, protect the environment and provide healthy food for them. This is one of the reasons why urban farming and gardening movements are popping up all over the country in and around cities. Well-educated young people are applying new and better-adapted farming systems to local conditions. Several community-supported agriculture systems around cities like Geneva, Basel or Zurich have contacted PSR to get access to bigger amounts of seeds to be able to start their trials on a bigger scale and select those varieties that fit best to their local and specific needs and establish production plots for the marketing of produce. For PSR this development causes different challenges: first, quantities of seeds requested are greater than those normally distributed for purely experimental purposes; second, these new actors require training in order to acquire the ability to produce and regenerate their own seed each year. Finally, these users demand more detailed information about the PGRFA stored in PSR’s seed library. To face these challenges, PSR is considering a series of new developments. To produce and distribute greater quantities of seed to growers, it could become a small seed company or start collaborating with local seed companies. In general, PSR would like to act as a knowledge hub or be part of a knowledge platform that provides