Land That Feeds Us

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Land is crucial to all agriculture. The critical questions are: Who controls the land? Who decides what can be cultivated where and how? And how does control and ownership of farmland influence impact farmers, food, and society at large?

The new EU Communal Agricultural Policy (CAP) influences land concentration and land grabbing in new and specific ways. Read here, what exact impact the CAP has and how we can collectively resist land concentration in our article on Land Ownership in the EU.

Seeds are silently sprouting around us slowly greening cities, gardens, forests, and farms. This February and March, we are taking a closer look at these small agents of change. Join us in learning about the global seed market, as well as the ethical and political implications of the world's vast seedbanks in our article, and understand the implications of where and how they are grown.


We're also excited to announce that we are publishing a comprehensive FAQ on fertilizer, where you'll find answers to all your questions about the history and impacts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, and the industry behind it.

And finally, there are loads of exciting events coming up - from our reading group on seeds, to planning this year's edition of the Food Autonomy Festival to Reclaim the Seeds; A wonderful festival for everyone in the movement towards agricultural biodiversity and robust, sustainable food production.


Enjoy this edition of the ASEED newsletter!

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Land Concentration and the CAP

All over Europe farmland is sacrificed to make way for projects such as urban expansion, where agricultural land is often irreversibly transformed for non-agricultural purposes for maximum profit. Meanwhile, the remaining land is concentrated into the hands of a few large-scale farmers and corporations. This has been directly influenced through the EU Communal Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the reform for 2023-2027. This trend is worrying as small-scale farms play an important role in the cohesion of rural areas as they are providing jobs for people in these areas and among other things safeguard cultural heritage. Read the full text the CAP and land concentration in Europe here.

Community Based Seed Banks

or Private Seed Banks?

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Seed banks store seeds from different species all over the world. According to various sources there are than 1700 seed banks worldwide and for sure many more small-scale farmers seeds banks. They store hundreds of thousands of local domestic seeds, as well as wild relatives of crops. Most of this varieties of seeds are no longer used, because seed markets use a low diversity of plant species. For most of agricultural history, regionally adapted seeds have been freely (re)produced and exchanged by farmers. The seeds were owned by peasants who sowed, bred, saved and exchanged them. Sadly, the arrival of commercial seed industries changed this drastically. At present, more than 60 percent of the market for commercial seed and agricultural chemicals are controlled by the big three in the agrochemical industry; Bayer-Monsanto, Corteva (Dow-DuPont) and Syngenta-ChemChina.

Why the industry is investing in private seed banks? How community seed banks can help peasants, the environment and the consumers?
Answers to all of these questions and interesting examples of seed banks you find here.

Want to be updated about ASEED's activities and volunteering opportunities?

We now have a Telegram group which you can join if you'd like to stay up to date about our doings and help out in one of our future events. We'll be happy to see you there!
Here is the link.

Fertilizer FAQ

Fertilizer FAQ
Welcome to ASEED's Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizer (N-fertilizer) FAQ. Here you can find all the information about why synthetic N-Fertilizer cannot be part of fossil (fuel) free ecological agriculture, who are the big actors in the fertilizer bizz and how we can embrace a relationship with the soil that is regenerative and life sustaining. This FAQ is a constant work in progress, if you think there is something missing in this FAQ or something is still unclear feel free to contact us at contact@aseed.net.

Upcoming Events

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Reading Group- Seeds

24.Feburary 6:30 - 8:30pm

We will learn how the system of GMO seeds and privatization has come to be, which narratives are used by large seed corporations. We'll also discuss what seed relationships we can have outside of the framework set by corporate powers and lobbies.

If you'd like to know more, please click here.


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Everything You Ever Wanted to Ask About Nuclear Power

25. February 19:30 - 20:30
2. March 15:30 - 16:30

WISE and Laka are inviting people from the climate movement to their webinar series where you can ask anything about nuclear power as a climate solution.

To register for this event send an e-mail with "Webinar Kernenergie" and the date on which you want to join to info@laka.org



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FAF Planning Assembly

11. March 19:00 - 21:00
Want to get involved in planning the food autonomy festival? Feel free to join us online for the next step in the planning process, where we will finalize some options discussed in the first meeting and make some decisions about next steps, like the date, the theme and which working groups you’d like to participate in! We are excited to hear your ideas and plan a collaborative and exciting program.


Find out how to join and what we have come up with so far here.
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FFA Open Campaign Meeting

3.March 7:00 - 9:00pm


We are thrilled to be inviting you to our first 2021 Open Campaign Meeting for the Fossil Free Agriculture campaign!
The meeting will consist of some updates about what has been going on with ASEED this year, introductions of the currently running working groups, time to get to know one another, and space for people to bring in ideas that they have for the campaign.
Check the event here

Klimaatstrijd in Crisis / Verkiezingstijd, 24.2. en 3.3.

Klimaatstrijd in Verkiezingstijd

24. February 20:30 - 21:30
3. March 20:30 - 21:30

Hoewel onze focus nu bij de landelijke actiedag van 14 maart ligt, gaat de strijd na de verkiezingen gewoon door! Daarom organiseert de redactie van Klimaatstrijd in Crisistijd twee webinars, waarin we het met verschillende activisten uit de beweging zullen hebben over wat we van de verkiezingen kunnen verwachten en welke lessen we kunnen trekken uit het klimaatactivisme van de afgelopen tien jaar.
Volg deze link om in te schrijven

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Reclaim the Seeds: Online

20 March various timeslots
21. March various timeslots
Join this wonderful 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.

Find out more and sign up at: https://reclaimtheseeds-amsterdam.nl
ASEED is a small grassroots collective run mostly by volunteers. We are grateful to have the ability to put time and energy into researching topics around agriculture, climate and social justice! However, in order to keep up structures that support this work, along with organizing events and direct actions we need structural funding. During the COVID crisis it is especially hard to find the kind of funding that pays for our financial administration, small budget for coordination and project fundraising, and rent on our office.
A great way to help us stay structurally funded is to become a monthly contributor! You can do that by visiting the SUPPORT US page on our website.

Want to get involved in other ways? Contact us at info@aseed.net.
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