Funding: Horizon 2021 Research and Innovation Framework Programme, European Union

Coordinator: FiBL Europe

Time period: October 2022 – September 2026.

Consortium partners: 37 partners from 17 countries work closely together in the LIVESEEDING project.

Organic seed and plant breeding to promote sustainable and diverse food systems in Europe

The aim of LIVESEEDING is to facilitate the market access to high diversity of crop varieties, which are the basis for quality organic seed production, in order to develop more sustainable food systems.

LIVESEEDING contributes to the enhancement of organic production in Europe by helping to strengthen and diversify the organic seed sector according to market needs, thereby improving the availability of organic plant propagating material of organic varieties (organic heterogeneous propagating material, organic varieties, landrace varieties) for a wide range of crops bred for greater diversity and adaptation to local conditions.

LIVESEEDING is also helping the transition towards environmentally friendly, climate-neutral, healthy, and equitable food systems by selecting varieties that are both organic and have low nutrient input requirements. It also develops innovative business models that link breeders with other actors in the value chain, highlighting the impact of biodiversity on health through food. Through active policy dialogue with various national and European organisations and authorities, LIVESEEDING aims to achieve 100% organic seeds in the future by applying research results and good practices.

LIVESEEDING objectives

  • to increase and optimise the diversity of crops that can be used in organic farming,
  • to carry out pre-and post-registration variety testing under organic conditions (with a particular focus on the development of low-cost, inclusive, and decentralised approaches to variety testing),
  • increasing the supply of organic plant propagating material,
  • developing a transparent organic seed market,
  • support for organic seed production and organic breeding initiatives,
  • promoting organic breeding supported by the market and consumers,
  • improving skills and knowledge transfer (training on how to produce high-quality organic seed),
  • promoting the competitiveness of the organic seed and breeding sector.

ÖMKi is involved in the following tasks:

The main task of ÖMKi is to lead the work package for the implementation of the production and marketing of high-quality, healthy organic seeds (WP3), which aims to increase the market availability of organic seeds. In addition, ÖMKi is a partner in other WPs, such as the leadership of the training task of the WP on organic variety testing (WP2).

Contact person

Györéné Kis Gyöngyi

Dr. Gyöngyi Dr. Györéné Kis

Research project leader
Graduate in agricultural engineering, Ph.D. in environmental sciences

Related research

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