Come and discover the world of native seeds.

Every year, since 2003, Réseau Semences Paysannes organises Les Rencontres internationales, an international meeting where practitioners, farmers, gardeners, citizens and any people interested in the world of seed get together.

This 2019 edition is organised in collaboration with BEDE and different community seed banks (Maisons des Semences Paysanne) that are based in Occitanie (Chemin Cueillant, Pétanielle, Renova, Les Semeurs du Lodevois Larzac). The meeting is an opportunity to learn and discuss about native seeds from France and around the world.

The meeting will take place from November 4 to 9, in the village of Mèze à côté de Sète, not far from Montpellier, in the Southern region of France. Participants will arrive from about 40 different countries.

The program is articulated in three different type of activities:

  • Visit to the community seed banks of Occitaine – 4, 5 and 6 November. In particular, on November 5 and 6, there is a multi-actor workshop coordinated by DYNAVERSITY in collaboration with the Agropolis foundation, with the title “Revisiter le role des banques des gènes dans le paysage de la gestion dynamique de la diversité” that will take place at the Centre Le Taurus in the village of Mèze. For two days more than 30 people from European and African countries will share their experiences of work with gene banks, within the framework of a dynamic conservation of diversity.
  • Let’s Liberate Diversity, November 7-9. In Mèze, within the Rencontres, the 10th LLD European Forum will take place. The program encompasses two workshops: the first one in the framework of DYNAVERSITY project, entitled “Creating the EU network of on farm actors and in situ sites: challenges and bottlenecks” will present the European Coordination LLD and the work of networking done in the past months and years. The second one will present the results of related project DIVERSIFOOD on seed systems and will focus on “Designing innovative seed systems: defining the boundaries between formal and informal” with a discussion based on concrete case studies.
  • Journée grand public à Mèze – Sunday 9 November. In collaboration with the Centre Permanent d’initiatives pour l’Environment (CPIE) du Bassin de Thau, the closing day of the Rencontres will be open to the public and will host a forum, exhibition of cultivated diversity, workshops and exchange and sale of seeds and plants, round tables and also entertainment activities, such as concerts and food fair.