By Adèle Pautrat and Mathieu Willard

Against a backdrop of accelerating phenomena linked to global warming, the urgency to act has long since reached its peak. At this very moment, hundreds of farmers across Europe are facing extreme weather conditions and are totally powerless to cope.

Today 5 July 2023, the European Commission has tabled its proposal to reform the horizontal legislation on seed marketing. In a previous article, we expressed our concern that seed autonomy and agrobiodiversity issues are still minimised. In this one, we bring you the voice of the field. First studying the very local case of white bean production in southern France, then taking a step back to look at some key expectations expressed by our partners from different EU rural territories.

Drawing from the leaflet on the Organic Heterogeneous Material © Francesca Casu

On April 22, Seeds4All gathered in the agricultural high school of Castelnaudary (Aude, France) several stakeholders involved in the breeding, cultivation and promotion of legumes and more specifically beans. Among them, Axel Wurtz from BioCIVAM 11, Yuna Chiffoleau from INRAE Montpellier, Cyrielle Mazaleyrat from FILEG, Alice Bardet and Vincent Dias from QCIAF, the deputy mayor of Castelnaudary Evelyne Guilhem as well as organic farmers, seasoned gardeners and researchers.

The occasion was to discuss the implementation of a local living lab in the framework of the European project DIVINFOOD, aiming at creating a dynamic favourable to the restructuring of a sustainable and diversified local sector for the production of white beans (*Seeds4All will follow and report on this project over the coming months).

The event was also the opportunity to present the DIVINFOOD project as part of the Global bean project’s seed festival scheduled the same day, of which Seeds4All was co-organiser.

The bean gathering we organised in Castelnaudary on April 22, 2023 © Adèle Violette

A year ago we had an exchange with a member of the Global Bean project on the need to expand EU’s legume cultivation for human consumption and reduce livestock, as part of a transition to agricultural practices and diets which would contribute to climate mitigation.

In practice, however, the implementation of such a transition encounters many obstacles, linked to a lack of funding, research, infrastructure, support and varietal diversity. This is what we discussed with the associations and farmers gathered in Castelnaudary, whose testimonies we give you.

Introduced in the region in the 16th century by Catherine de Medici, the cultivation of white beans has its specific local history - and problems.

Being the main ingredient of the famous Cassoulet, it is protected by a geographical indication (GPI "Haricot lingot de Castelnaudary") since 2020. As a result “almost 100% of the local production of white bean is stamped bean for cassoulet!", regrets Evelyne Guilhem, elected official and local farmer. A situation that contributes to the rigidity of the sector, limited to a few hectares of cultivation, few actors involved and no search for varietal diversity.

In the Occitanie region, 53% of legume production is soybean, against 1% of Phaseolus beans. Nadine Micouleau, organic farmer from Lauragais, explains why she recently decided to abandon this crop which, in her opinion, offers no added value.

Uprooting, collecting, threshing and sorting beans require complicated technical skills. Most of the work has to be done by hand and access to specific machinery, such as sorting machines, is limited. Since the local CUMA doesn’t have any, Nadine and her husband were forced to send their harvest to the centre of France, and to pay the price.

On the market side, the situation is even more discouraging. While around 150,000 cans of cassoulet are produced every day in Castelnaudary, the local production of white beans does not exceed 150 tonnes per year. The production of cassoulet is therefore essentially based on imports of non-PGI white beans, even though the increase in local bean production and use is made difficult by this same PGI.

The consequences feed the vicious circle: low production is equivalent to low interest and low investment to support the development of the sector and in particular its adaptation to changing growing conditions, while the mainly cultivated ingot variety struggles to withstand repeated episodes of drought.

Presentation of the 7 selected varieties to the amateur gardeners © Adèle Violette

Based on the need to adapt agricultural practices while ensuring the survival of a high-potential local production chain, the DIVINFOOD living lab in the Lauragais demonstrates the importance of relying on the regeneration of agrobiodiversity through the involvement of large communities.

As we like to do, we’re now going to take a step back and try to analyse broader seed issues that the future seed law should address, based on the observations we've made in a wider range of rural areas.

Portraits of different partners we met across Europe  © Adèle Violette

The main takeaway from the table above is the need for coherent, overarching actions. Modifying seed marketing rules will not be enough. In more practical terms, the needs are larger and encompass:

1. The scope of the EU seed marketing legislation should not include the sale of seeds to amateur gardeners, any activities by seed conservation networks, the use of farm-saved seeds for farmer’s own cultivation and mass selection, the exchange of seeds between farmers or gardeners, in kind or with monetary compensation, and participatory plant breeding activities. In a broader way, there is a need to exclude from the scope any activities that focus on conserving cultivated diversity or adapting cultivars to local agro-ecological conditions. The legislation should only apply to varieties when their market value is relevant (i.e. the cost of registering it is justified).

2. Need to diverisfy quality criteria and adptability to local contexts for the varieties that will be marketed within the scope of the EU seed marketing legislation. This means that VCU testing needs to be more flexible and encompass other parameters like water consumption or adaptability to specific soils. However, appraising new quality criteria in the registration process has to be done cautiously. The EU Commission has already talked about introducing “sustainability criteria” that could be shaped to fit new GM characteristics and therefore cement a pathway towards GMO deregulation and introduction in the EU market.

3. Rules for labelling and traceability of registered or notified varieties should strengthen the need to incorporate additional details such as information about the techniques employed in developing the material, the region of production, if the seeds are F1 hybrids or GMOs, and any restrictions on its use due to patents or plant variety protections. For registered varieties, the breeding method information should be mandatory in the catalogue. Those are basic requirements to allow for better promotion of best practices.

4. Large investment packages for rural developmentshould be tabled, taking into account the priority urgency of supporting the transition to sustainable seed practices and promoting seed autonomy - development of infrastructures for seed harvesting, sorting, drying, storage; support for cooperatives and intersectoral collaboration systems; support for programs restoring genetic heritage; support for awareness and education programs; etc.. The current situation regarding the dynamic management of agrobiodiversity reflects a terrible lack of means and infrastructure on the scale of European rural territories.

5. Protection of public domain genetic resources against biopiracy. There is a need for legally framing and limiting monopolisation of the market by big corporations who can implement unfair competitive behaviours based on IPR and biopiracy. This means that a clear distinction must be made between systems that grant exclusive property rights over plant varieties and those that allow them to be placed on the market.

Left, an old variety of shallot kept in the gardens of the Lauragais / center: harvest of a typical grape variety from Aude, France, highly resistant to drought / right: seeds of a very rare variety of cucumber © Adèle Violette

The needs are thus legal, but also technical, financial and social. How these needs are addressed will determine the EU's ability to effectively tackle the agricultural challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss.

In this regard, the meetings we conducted with partners all over Europe were particularly insightful. All the locations we visited have either experienced or currently face agrarian condition changes that pose a threat to their agricultural production.

On the island of Pellworm, for example, where the rural community has to contend not only with rising sea levels, but also with the increasingly massive invasion of wild geese destroying crops. Or in the south of France, where the lack of water is felt a little earlier every year, forcing farmers to abandon certain crops.

These communities are already contemplating solutions to the problems they have experienced firsthand, and one of the key levers in the transition to practices capable of meeting new climatic requirements is to prioritise seed diversity and autonomy.

The greatest challenges of the reform process that is beginning today will therefore be to respond to the climate emergency in a strong and rigorous way, while recognising that the diversity of European contexts in terms of managing cultivated biodiversity requires flexibility and adaptability.