Policies recommendations : set of recommendations on farm conservation strategy, the role of innovative market mechanisms, legislative framework for landraces, conservation varieties and amateur varieties in Europe

Farm Seed Opportunities (FSO) has performed several studies and analysis to precise the concepts behind the “conservation varieties” regulations, to verify the situation in European’s fields and to suggest further development of these regulations aiming at preserving plant genetic resources. All these data could be useful for the national implementation of the new directives that leave enough space to each member states for adapting these directives to their farming conditions. Through these studies, FSO identified several situations that are not already taken into account by seed laws, mainly (i) for varieties still cultivated in the so called alternative farming systems or for niche markets and (ii) for new populations recently created in the framework of Participatory Plant Breeding or by innovative breeding methods favouring plant diversity inside the variety. Those findings are compiled in this publication.