Project description
Securing agriculture heritage with indigenous seeds
Indigenous seeds are crucial threads holding the promise of food security and sustainable farming. Yet, these seeds face an existential threat due to issues like viability, climate change and dwindling economic incentives for on-farm conservation. With this in mind, the ERC-funded ReSeed project will use blockchain technology to create a transparent and decentralised digital farmers’ market. Through a meticulous mixed-methods research approach, ReSeed seeks to integrate seamlessly into international regulatory frameworks, fostering in situ conservation, research and innovation while benefiting small farmers economically and environmentally. This innovation addresses the challenges of preserving indigenous seeds and offers a transformative solution, fostering equitable transfers and incentivising responsible downstream research, ultimately benefiting small farmers worldwide.
Objective
Agrobiodiversity, particularly farmers indigenous seeds and associated know-how (ISK), hosts a wealth of plant genetic resources that contribute to global food security and sustainable agriculture. While indigenous seeds can be preserved in seed banks, problems of viability over prolonged storage and rapid climate change necessitate on-farm (in situ) conservation. However, farmers face dwindling economic incentives to cultivate and thereby conserve ISK in situ: ISK is ineligible for protection under intellectual property laws and there are currently no systems in place for tracking the end use to which ISK are put (e.g. end-user consumption or downstream research). The fundamental problem here is in tracing who the first farmer (group) was that put an ISK on the market, who accessed it, and what was done with it.
Using features of blockchain technology that can help track the flow of ISK in a decentralized, transparent and immutable way, my goal is to develop and test a technical specification for a first-of-its-kind digital farmers market (ReSeed) that (i) facilitates equitable and traceable transfers of farmers ISK, and (ii) incentivizes honest reporting-back of downstream research and innovation therewith. Using a mixed methods research approach, I will conduct original empirical research with suppliers and buyers of ISK to co-compile technical features and incentives that will inform ReSeeds design. I will also demonstrate how ReSeed can be integrated into international regulatory frameworks with minimal legal amendments, and create a governance model, including ethics guidelines for its adoption and implementation in small farmers communities.
ReSeed will build on my 12-year research on means of incentivizing sustainable innovations with indigenous seeds. It will promote in situ conservation, research, and innovation with agrobiodiversity, acknowledge and add value to farmers ISK, and bring economic and environmental benefits to small farmers.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology governance
- natural sciences computer and information sciences computer security cryptography
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80333 Muenchen
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.