The 1st and 2nd year students of An tIonad Glas, Organic College, Dromcollogher were delighted to visit Seed Savers this week. Greeted by Irish Seed Saver s Project Manager Lisa Duncan, the 1st year students were taken on a guided educational tour around the Seed Saver estate where they were introduced to endangered native crop varieties, traditional seed saving methods and the importance of keeping our heritage alive. The group felt this particular tour to be most beneficial and informative. It was brought to their attention that during the twentieth century 75% of our worldwide agricultural biodiversity was lost. In other words, 75% of crop varieties cultivated by previous generations have become extinct, this emphasises the need for all to take responsibility as well as action, so to not lose our precious native varieties. The scale of this issue presents an understandable urgency to foster a sustainable solution to this pressing problem.
With the dedication of 20 staff members, volunteers and supporters, Seed Savers is passionately employing methods in which to promote and conserve Ireland’s swiftly disappearing native varieties of grain, fruit and vegetables. Seed Savers mission is to raise awareness and to educate others of the vulnerability of Irish agricultural biodiversity. This is achieved through the means of scheduled workshops in order to pass on seed-saving knowledge to the public, to encourage gardening and inform of the imperative nature of preserving genetic diversity. The Irish Seed Savers Association was founded by Anita Hayes in 1991 and has been located in Scariff Co. Clare since 1996. Seed Savers maintains a seed bank holding over 600 non-commercially available varieties of seed.
In the afternoon the students joined some of the staff for lunch where the proceeds of The Organic College Christmas Market Collection that was held on the previous Sunday was presented to Joanne Newton, Seed bank Coordinator as a contribution towards the vital work of this organisation.
President Higgins opens the new Seed Bank at Irish Seed Savers