Swapping seeds in the spring of 2025
In Amsterdam, Groningen and Oedelem people are preparing for new seed fairs. You can write down the following dates in your agenda:
Saturday February 15
Geen Woorden maar Zaden, Rotterdams zadenruilfestival
Location: Voedseltuin, Gedempte Keilehaven, Rotterdam
Time: 12:00 - 16:00
More info
Saturday March 8
Noordelijke Zadenmarkt
Location: Terra 'De Pionier', Suikerlaan 51, Groningen
Time: 11:00 - 16:00
More info: https://www.noordelijkzadennetwerk.nl/zadenmarkten/zadenmarkt-2025
Reclaim the Seeds West Vlaanderen
Location: Land en Tuinbouwinstituut - Bruggestraat 190, Oedelem
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Link voor meer informatie
Sunday March 9
Reclaim the Seeds Hof van Wezel
At the Hof van Wezel in Beuningen (West of Nijmegen) a (tiny) seedswap will take place. With a few workshops and documentaries about gardening, ecology and eco techniques.
Location: Hof van Wezel, Ficarystraat 11, Beuningen
Time: starting at 13:00
Saturday March 15 & Sunday March 16
Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam
Location: De Fruittuin van West, Tom Schreursweg 48, Amsterdam
More info: https://reclaimtheseeds-amsterdam.nl
Sunday March 16
Reclaim the Seeds Kempen
Ecocentrum De Goren - Postelsesteenweg 71, Mol
Time: 10:00 - 18:00
Link for more info
Saturday March 22
Reclaim the Seeds Den Bosch
Seedfair with mainly local and regional gardeners and seed savers.
Location: De Graafse Akker, Mgr. van Roosmalenplein 19c, Den Bosch
Time: 11:00 - 17:00
More information is available on the website from Club Duurzaam Doen.
Sunday March 23
Reclaim the Seeds Lier
Steinerschool 'De Populier' - Mallekotstraat 43, Lier
from 10:00 till 17:00
More info
Friday March 28 - Sunday 30 March
Reclaim the Seeds Wageningen
Friday (19:30 - 22:00) Openings Event in NuDeToekomst
Zaterdag (10:00 - 20:00) Seed swap and workshops in the Creative Garden en de Hoge Born
Zondag (10:00 - 18:00) Gardening and workshops in the Ommuurde Tuin
More information
Saturday April 5
Reclaim the Seeds Nijmegen
More info will follow later
Probably some more Reclaim the Seeds events will be announced. Please keep an on this website to stay updated.
Raise our forks for diversity!
The EU is again working on new seed regulations. More than 10 years ago, Reclaim the Seeds was started as a protest against a similar process .
The new EU seed law proposal, published by the European Commission in July 2023, is a serious threat to the free exchange of seeds and the diversity of our crops. Furthermore, this law ignores the right of farmers to harvest, use, exchange and sell their own seeds, as enshrined in international law. This is unacceptable!
The Austrian seed savers in the organisation Arche Noah have set up a petition to change the proposal. It is important that many people sign and let decision makers know the importance of agricultural biodiversity and a resilient agriculture based on open pollinated varieties. Read more on Arche Noah's petition page. Continue reading on the page of the petition page of Arche Noah.
Reclaim the Seeds in Lier is back on the agenda: Sunday 3 March 2024
The first Reclaim the Seeds in Flanders took place in Lier in 2016. And now the seeds working group of Velt is bringing this seed fair with stalls and lectures back to this location just east of Antwerp.
Velt's seeds working group is committed to preserving open-pollinated and special types of crops in cooperation with a large group of gardeners who grow, collect, save and exchange seeds themselves.
Do you have seeds left over, are you still looking for something nice for your (vegetable) garden, do you need your seeds cleaned, do you want to learn how to grow your own seeds successfully, or do you want to know more about the new European legislation on seed cultivation?
On the occasion of Velt's 50th anniversary, the seeds working group will be offering an extra wide range of seeds.
So be sure to visit this 'seed exchange XL' where, in addition to seeds, you can also buy a whole range of special garden plants and the like.
Some of the offerings:
De Veirman Willy (yacon, chayote, pepino, grapes, tomatoes, peppers)
De Wilde Wei (special vinegars)
De Woudezel (alternative edible plants, food forests)
Ecohoeve 'Den Oude Kastanje' (unique and 'forgotten' vegetables)
GRADINKA Kruidentuinen (seeds and herb products)
GroeiR (metal plant supports for climbing vegetables, fruit and flowers)
Tuinjoop (special seeds, homemade herbal products)
Wolcocon (ecological slow cooker)
Zaden Voor Iedereen (seeds, free exchange table, brass and bronze garden tools)
Bloemenbos (flowers and plants, honey)
Velt Netevallei (Velt Publications)
time: Sunday 3 March, 11:00-17:00.
location: De Populier - Middelbare Steinerschool, Mallekotstraat 43, 2500 Lier, België.
Entry: 2 euro.
The third 'Reclaim the Seeds' in West Flanders on Saturday 9 March 2024
On Saturday 9 March 2024 from 10am to 5pm, Velt is organising its third major organic and ecological seed and plant fair in West Flanders. This is a collaboration between Velt West Flanders and 'Reclaim The Seeds'.
The fair will take place at the Agriculture and Horticulture Institute.
The seeds working group of Velt, the great pioneer of these fairs in Belgium, will certainly be present with an extensive seeds stand and a large exchange table where everyone can deposit their own seeds packed in bags (with harvest date, name and possibly sowing dates and other info on them) and exchange them for other seeds on this table.
location: Bruggestraat 190 te 8730 Oedelem, België.
You can exchange seeds again on 16 and 17 March in Amsterdam
Reclaim the Seeds 2024 is coming up again! On the weekend of 16 and 17 March, this festivity will again take place at the Fruittuin van West. There will again be a seed market, lectures and workshops. More information about this programme will appear soon on the Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam website (Please note: the information on the website still refers to last year's festival).
In addition to being the place to exchange or buy new seeds for your garden, Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam aims to raise awareness about the fragile situation of seeds in order to contribute to the fight for more biodiversity and a more sustainable and robust food system. The festival contributes directly to this goal by encouraging the exchange of rare and distinct varieties. The programme also addresses other practical, theoretical and political/agriculture topics focused on decentralisation and autonomy.
Opposition to crop patents and the promotion of climate-neutral and fossil-free agriculture are also currently spearheads of Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam. You can find more background on these topics and reports from past years elsewhere on this website.
Reclaim the Seeds Amsterdam is organised by ASEED, de Fruittuin van West and urban farming collective Cityplot. The festival is made possibly by the many volunteers and active participants. Do you want to get involved? Send us an email.
'De Kempen Kiemt', on March 17 a first Reclaim the Seeds in Mol
Time: March 17 2024, 11:00-17:00
Location: Ecocenter De Goren, Postelsesteenweg 71, 2400 Mol, België
Entry: for free
More information and updates you can find on the Velt website.
Reclaim the Seeds in Wageningen: Friday March 28 until Sunday March 30 2025
This year Reclaimt the Seeds Wageningen will create a regenerative, reflective, inspiring and connecting space where we can embody our politics and where ideas and collaborations can sprout! New will be our campsite at Ppauw, where you can set up a tent for the whole weekend (in case you don’t have a tent, we can try to help you with that too; see registration link below).
We will explore the theme 'seeds' but also the concept 'reclaiming' from a philosophical, political, practical and embodied level. We are organising a three-day event at the NuDeToekomst, Creative Garden, Ppauw and Ommuurde Tuin in Wageningen.
Friday we will open with a get-together in NuDeToekomst, where we will host a film screening and discussion of Seed: The Untold Story by Vandana Shiva. This film raises awareness for the loss of seed diversity worldwide.
Saturday we come together at Creative Garden and Hoge Born, where we start and end with ceremonies and throughout the day we will dive into the topics of seeds and agroecology, the intersectionality of struggles, traditional plant use, reclamation of identity, body and roots, decolonisation, and more.
Sunday we will meet at Ommuurde Tuin, we will delve deeper into the same topics as on Friday and Saturday through a variety of workshops surrounding gardening, cooking, decolonisation and music.
Friday March 28: time: 19:30 - 22:00, location: NuDeToekomst, Mennonietenweg 15A, Wageningen.
zaterdag 29 maart: tijd: 10:00 - 20:00, location: Creative Garden en de Hoge Born, Bornsesteeg 87, Wageningen.
zondag 30 maart: tijd: 10:00 - 18:00, location: de Ommuurde Tuin, Kortenburg 16, Renkum.
It is possible to Camp at Ecodorp Ppauw.
Entry: donation.
It is possible to register via this link. If you do so, we will send you the programme booklet.
Here you can find a teaser of the programme. Updates you can find on the Instagram pagine.
Saterday 6 April: Reclaim the Seeds on Walcheren
A seed festival partly to mark 50 years of Velt.
Organised by the Seeds Library and the Zeeland Library.
Location: In Zeeland Library
Kousteense dijk 7, Middelburg.
Time: From 10:00 to 16:00 uur.
What can you do?
- There will be many seeds to exchange (but even if you have nothing to exchange yourself, it is possible to take home seeds and tubers of special crops for your vegetable garden);
- Screening of the new documentary "Jos, de mens als nuttige soort." ("Jos - humans as useful species", will be in Dutch);
- Various information stalls;
- Farmers' market;
- Lecture "veganism in agriculture";
- Workshop "harvesting your own seeds";
- Urban walk led by the city ecologist;
And much more ...
Reclaim the Seeds is an event during which the exchange of information and seeds is combined with discussions on political themes and practical workshops. The goal is to involve more people in the movement towards agriculture biodiversity and robust, sustainable food production. Reclaim the Seeds contributes directly to this by encouraging the exchange of rare and special varieties.
Reclaim the Seeds began in 2010 as a protest against the new EU seed legislation. Today, the focus is more on resistance against patents on crops and on supporting a climate neutral, 'fossil free' agriculture. The programme also covers other practical, theoretical and political topics related to agriculture.
Reclaim the Seeds in 2020, 2021 and 2022
Due to Corona we had to cancel the seed fairs in Amsterdam and Frederiksoord (in Drenthe) in 2020.
In 2021 an online version took place. This resulted in a lot of interesting lectures. More about this you can find on the Dutch section of this website. Unfortunately not many seeds have been swapped. Another disadvantage compared to a real live seedfair was that not that many interesting meetings between people took place.
In 2022 two successful real seed fairs a lot of interactions and exchanges between gardeners, seed savers and other people took place again. One in Amsterdam and one in Oedelem in Flanders.
(old report) A successful Reclaim the Seeds 2017 in Nijmegen and Lent
The annual seed fair took place in De Vasim in Nijmegen on Saturday March 4th. De Vasim is an old spinning mill on the Waal river that now functions as a cultural breeding hub. Come join us in exchanging a wide variety of seeds and cutting as well as ideas, information, and useful skills. We welcome you to bring any seeds or cuttings to exchange along with the myriad of old, local, non-hybrid, and special seeds, bulbs, and cuttings.
During the market there will be talks and workshops about saving seeds, permaculture, seed networks, edible peenial plants, the impact of Bayer/Monsanto and other large seed companies, and other subjects. The overarching theme of the day will be regarding the issues of seed patenting.
The next day, Sunday March 5th, everybody is invited to lend a hand at starting an edible garden in Lent. In this northern part of Nijmegen two ecological communities IEWAN and Eikpunt have recently been completed and now the inhabitants are going to transform most of the public green area to become edible. There will also be some excursions to biodiverse projects in the surroundings.
Reclaim the Seeds is an annual event, each year in a different part of the Netherlands, where exchanging seeds and information is combined with discussions about political themes and practical workshops. It started as a protest against new European seed laws, but now the main goal is to involve more people in the struggle against patents in plants and against the ever increasing power of large agricultural corporations. With the event we contribute to the upkeep of agricultural biodiversity and a robust, sustainable agriculture.
The overarching theme of the day will be regarding the issues of seed patenting. The past 5 editions were a success; many interested people joined in and the workshops and discussions were well attended. Let us reclaim the seeds!
