Over the weekend I attended ‘Donor Day’, a sort of open house day for Stichting Zaadgoed. I think the intention is to bring donors up to date with their activities, but everyone was welcome to attend. I attended one of their events a few years ago, when they hosted Vandana Shiva. I think this was also a Donor Day, and open to everyone.
I’m not very familiar with all the legal differences, but a stichting is in the same family as a foundation, non for profit organization, charity, etc. Zaadgoed means ‘good seeds’. This means their name translates to something like ‘Good Seed Charity’. The purpose of this organization is to stimulate the breeding, production and availability of open pollinated and traditionally bred varieties and seeds, and to promote agricultural biodiversity. To this end, they accept individual and institutional donations, then fund projects.
With respect to the Netherlands, they have relationships with a number of high profile people and institutions, for example the University of Wageningen, the Louis Bolk Institute and so on. I’m under the impression they aren’t very well known in other countries, and in general don’t have a vision that extends far beyond the close knit social circles of the Netherlands. It spoke volumes for example, that they weren’t quite sure who I was, and didn’t seem very familiar with my blog. I don’t think there are benefactors of Zaadgoed outside the Netherlands, with the possible exceptions of border areas in nearby countries. Honestly, I don’t think any of this is intentional. If donors and projects in other countries get their attention, I think they will adapt.
It also has to be said they seem to have a lot of relationships with many of the larger seed companies in the country, through employment or other financial ties. On one hand this is important, for example we all want the larger companies to adopt the principles of agricultural biodiversity, but on the other hand it does seem like their vision is a bit influenced by this relationship. It was reiterated a number of times at this meeting that money from donors is not given to the larger companies, and I believe that. On the other hand, it does seem like much of their money and efforts are spent trying to support development of commercially viable varieties for larger companies, and this is not always what’s best for biodiversity as a whole. They don’t seem to invest much effort in varieties destined for the public domain, but rather focus on commercial listed and IPR protected varieties. A better balance here is needed, in my opinion.
No organization is perfect. In spite of a few concerns here, I do think they are a passionate group of people that do very important work. I think what they do is worth supporting. Please consider making a donation. An organization that does what they do is a special thing. If you’re a larger donor with influence, approach them with a critical eye, be sure to ask a lot of questions and work with them to make sure your money is spent in the way you expect it to be. Small donations are welcome too. A donation of as little as €15 is enough for them to send their very informative and nicely produced newsletters (in Dutch) by post.
