Organic seed production and use in Hungary
Creators: name: Fehér, Judit
name: Kovács, Tina
name: Schäfer, Freya
name: Raaijmakers, Maaike
name: Moeskops, Bram
name: Drexler, Dóra
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019

description: <strong>1 Introduction</strong> Conventional cereal and vegetable seed production has a firmly established market, and is well-practiced in Hungary. However, less interest and attention is given to organic seed production. Small market demand, low level of stakeholder organisation, and the lack of policy incentives create barriers for the development of the organic seed market. The economic value and opportunity of organic seed production is not recognised by most of the seed value chain actors, since the Hungarian organic sector is relatively small, and its demand for organic market seed is very low. Farmers and research institutes are the main providers of organic seed and several seed companies who are certified and willing to produce organic (or conventional untreated) seeds, but only on demand. Often organic seeds are produced on a contract basis and certified and sold abroad. Farm-saved seeds are commonly used by organic cereal farmers (&gt;90%) in order to reduce input costs and to use material that is better adapted to local conditions. However, the quality management of farm-saved seeds often poses a major risk. Organic vegetable growers either use conventional untreated seeds from local seed producers, or order organic seeds from international organic seed companies. In order to overcome current lock-ins of organic seed use in Hungary, farmers’ awareness about the benefits of buying organic seed is crucial. <strong>2 Materials and Methods</strong> In the frame of the LIVESEED project a national visit (21-24 November 2017) and a national workshop (12<sup>th</sup> March 2019) was organised with the involvement of the competent authorities, relevant implementing organizations and several stakeholder groups (e.g. seed producers, farmers, researchers) of the (organic) seed sector. The Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) conducts on-farm trials, aiming to connect research and farming knowledge, to test the performance of different cultivars under organic conditions. The LIVESEED project presents a unique opportunity to advance organic variety testing and breeding models, including new participatory approaches, working with landraces and dynamic populations. <strong>3 Results and Conclusions</strong> The following incentives are discussed within the project, to foster the development of local organic seed production and use: self-organization of farmers’ or their organization through market actors in order to create a stable demand for organic seeds may motivate seed companies to regularly produce organic seeds policy incentives to foster the development of organic seed use and organic seed production. In frame of the new organic regulation (in force from 2021) farmer’s selection and production of heterogeneous seed materials (landraces, cross composite populations, variety mixtures) may provide a new opportunity to enhance local organic seed supply chains and crop genetic diversity a working group on organic seed that involves all sector players can facilitate strategic planning and harmonize actions in favour of organic seed use Involving heterogeneous material (landraces, farmer’s selection and dynamic populations, cross composite populations) in organic variety tests and participatory organic breeding is expected to have additional benefits on crop diversification. In our presentation we will provide first results from the LIVESEED national workshops and the pilot case study on fostering organic seed use and production in Hungary.
description: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727230 and by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation ( under contract number 17 00090 The information contained in this communication only reflects the author's view Neither the Research Executive Agency nor SERI is responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided