save our seeds

Dear all, I created a short survey to get reactions about how people rely on labels. Feel free to give it a try, it is only 5 questions.

Thank you,

Regis

Last major updates on the website :

wedenesday october 30, 2007 : first thesis presentation (@presentations). to be read first !

thursday november 14, 2007 : first formal thesis proposal (@presentations & abstracts)

saturday december 1, 2007 : focus, and relationships between selected projects. (@home)

tuesday january 15, 2008 : new project presentation on the weblog, right here.

wednesday january 23, 2008 : new project presentation on the weblog, right here.

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DISCLAMER : I do not pretend to be right on every point I mention. It is even likely that you disagree with it. If so, please feel very welcome to post comments and/or contact me.

Thank you,

Régis
lemberthe@inbox.com

I recently came to read GRAIN’s briefing about the troubles linked to organic seed certification that is being implemented in most european countries under the lobbying of major seed suppliers. This seemed to be quite an important issue, furthermore related to an activity that is originally dedicated to preserve vegetal diversity.

To briefly summarize the issue :
organic farmers have to meet some standard requirements to get certified as such – mostly about production processes, and since recently seed sourcing. It is, indeed, necessary that the seeds themselves come from an organic production. That seems logical, will you say quite rightfully.

The trouble is that such seeds do need to be proved organic, therefore certified. Most seeds aren’t.
As a consequence, few varieties can truly be cultivated under the organic certification, thus creating a gap between the ideals of organic agriculture – preserving diversity – and the poor range of material available.
Of course there can be derogations, in case a seed can’t be found in the official catalogue, but they are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain; and even though, such a legislation outlaws seed saving and exchange amongst farmers, creating a relationship of dependancy to certified suppliers.
Finally, such norms tend to export to South countries, especially since most organic products come from such places. Yet they don’t take into account local context, in which financial limitations – debts – and technical differences – a seed that is practical in Europe will be inefficient in many other places.

This problematic must lead to the development of alternative labels, that put an emphasis on social development rather than on seed documentation. Production under these licenses won’t obviously be put under the same banner than certified organic agriculture, even though it will be of higher environmental and social quality.

Yet such a development of alternative labels should not happen without taking the time of a true reflection on the value we want to give to all the labels we come to encounter. What makes me trust this, or this certification ? Alternative labels should be based on confidence, and on a true understanding of the actual values it promotes, This is what I believe.

I will, during the next stages of my research, try to challenge this too simple view on certification I believe most consumers adopt. I will lead tests dedicated to understand the latter’s opinion and base my work on the results.

I want to develop as an outcome such an alternative label, along with all the visual and physical material that will be necessary to implement it – communication, packaging, store concept and all that helps promoting the values of the label.
As a step towards this end, I want to use my research to generate a toolkit, for local communities to develop their own confidence-based label. This is, I believe, something that I will use myself.

Finally, I need to explain an aspect that interests me to consider as part of that project : I want to, throughout the label identity, transmit information about the seeds that are required to bring the ingredients on the table. I will therefore research on ways to get information about seed genealogy transmitted to the consumer. In parallel, I would like to study the genealogy of a specific plant as a case study. I recently heard that carrot became orange in the Netherlands; well I’m on the spot, so why not carrot ?

I consider that the main threats to diversity are monocropping, which impoverish our patrimony, and Patents on Vegetal Varieties that lead to Biopiracy.

Genetic diversity regenerates ecosystems and avoids pandemic fleas.
For this it must be utilized, not capitalized.
Global seed banks, as the Seed Vault in Spitzberg, are institutions that save seeds in order to face extinction. But this is no answer to global monocropping.
Challenging the current demand for agricultural products, nowadays more homogenous than ever before, is a condition sine qua non to stimulate the exploitation of forgotten varieties.
Knowledge diversity preserves populations integrity and empowers communities.
For this it must be free to use.
When a knowledge is transmitted orally, there is no legal proof of its existence. It can then be patented by outsiders, therefore depriving the real inventors from their rights, even this of using their invention. This is biopiracy.
The first step to answer this trouble lies in considering social diversity as a part of natural diversity. Protecting one is protecting the other.

This topic relates to both natural and social sciences. I believe that my position as a designer is ideal to conciliate both fields of application. Not being an expert in these fields helps finding connexions between them.
As such, I decided to keep working on two projects that I believe will combine to each other.

• BIOPIRACY : protecting traditional knowledge and plants from illegitimate exploitation.
• INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY : inviting consumers to integrate more diversity in their consuming habits.

I will now explain each of them in greater detail.

Publishing cultural heritage generates a “Prior Act”. This protects the real inventors from biopiracy. It requires to use adequate channels of disclosure. This is an activity that is already being done, and I want to explore how to bring it closer to the consumer.
Publishing a knowledge doesn’t necessarily have to remain in the legal field. It is a good occasion to inform the rest of the world.
Promoting can be protective.

“If this is your country, where are your stories ?”, a tribe chef once said the colons.
Now the whole world is our country. And we still don’t know the stories.
As a first step, I considered bringing the story in shops, along with the product. I am also considering different opportunities to make this link a two-way relationship.

The tourist, while traveling, carries information; one comes back from a new place with new stories, willing to tell about them. It is interesting to consider tourists as mediums to make the link more personal. The postcard, as a ritual item, could carry the information, not only text but also more tangible items.
Thus, turning the tourist from a potential threat (disclosing information too widely and informatively) into a resource (relaying a formal disclosure).

Information spreads efficiently through new networks : the internet, podcasts, youtube videos… The wikipatent groups acts as a database for prior acts. But it cannot always be reached. I am considering how these platforms can help relay the information.

As another approach, I am putting an emphasis on the diversity we actually use in our consumption patterns : How to increase our Individual Creativity of the Use of Plants ? Making things playful, educative, rewarding or advantageous can be the ways to stimulate people’s inventiveness.

I am interested in bringing more various ingredients into cooking. This is not only asking people to use them, but inviting them to do so. I believe new methodologies for cooking can provide excitement for people to get involved. In order to do so I am trying to investigate in new medium to provide information / excitement in the kitchen. My first two tryouts were recipebooks that focus more on the process that on the final result; one inviting the cook to get in touch with forgotten / original ingredients to achieve aesthetic goals. the other providing opportunities to generate surprising associations.

Maybe new medias will help achieving these goals. I am currently working in how to provide information at a restaurant table using multi-touch screens, in the frame of a workshop at center for social-contemporary art (SOCO) in Amsterdam.