Rete Semi Rurali

Rete Semi Rurali (RSR) is an Italian umbrella organisation, representing over 30 national and regional organisations promoting Collective Management of Agrobiodiversity in organic and agroecological farming systems.
Founded in 2007, RSR has been actively promoting Participatory and Decentralised Plant Breeding for over ten years, through numerous Regional, National and European research projects. Starting from the conservation of local varieties and landraces, RSR is now researching and promoting the use of evolutionary populations of cereals, legumes and horticultural crops.
In its facility in Florence, Italy, RSR hosts a Community Seed Bank, where seed of local varieties and populations are collected, stored and re-distributed each year.
Rete Semi Rurali is considered a dependable representative of the rural community and a competent advocate with relation to conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources and seed legislation, both at National and European level. Rete Semi Rurali’s approach to advocacy is that one’s arguments need to be supported by a solid foundation of practices and work in the field. Its vision is to bring about a shift from the dominant pipeline model (genetic resource -> breeder -> seed -> supermarket) to a more holistic, circular and community-based paradigm of cultivated biodiversity management.

Website Rete Semi Rurali