The claim
A screenshot claims that the EU wants to ban private fruit and vegetable cultivation.
Our conclusion
The screenshot is based on an article from 2013, which only talked about regulating seeds, not banning them, which would only have affected farmers and not private gardeners. The proposal was rejected by the EU Commission in 2014 with a very large majority.
A screenshot of an article, which in turn contains a link to another source, claims that the EU wants to ban the cultivation of fruit and vegetables in gardens. The cultivation of old and rare varieties in private gardens would then be punishable. But in the source article, which dates from 2013, there is only something about regulation that does not affect private gardens at all - and that seed reform was rejected in 2014.
The claim
A screenshot of an article has been circulating again and again on social media since the end of November, here are two examples:
Under the heading “EU wants to ban fruit and vegetable growing in gardens” it says:
“It hasn't been decided yet, but the EU plans to control all seeds.
The European Commission wants to require farmers and gardeners to use standard seeds in the future.
Old and rare varieties have little chance of being approved; their cultivation becomes a punishable offense - even if it takes place in a private garden. Source: “Deutsche-Wirtschafts-nachrichten”
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The origin of the screenshot
This is quite easy to find with Google. It's a short blog entry on the botano adopt page (see HERE , archived HERE ). From there we can also look at the original article from “Deutsche Wirtschaftsnachrichten”.
The original article said nothing about private gardens and bans
Okay, that's not entirely true, because at least the URL says that the EU wants to ban something:

In addition, both the URL and the title of the source article state that gardens are also affected, but the article itself is only written by farmers. You can see for yourself HERE or archived HERE .

Please note the date: The article is from April 2013. This means that any private cultivation of fruit and vegetables must have been regulated or banned for around 10 years. Are any of you hobby gardeners and have you heard anything about this?
What the EU wanted to decide at the time
In 2013 there was actually a proposal to reform the seed regulation in the EU. The unwieldy title was “ Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the production of plant reproductive material and its making available on the market ”. You can view it HERE (PDF file).
From the title you can already see what it was actually about: Plant propagation material (remember the word for Scrabble!) is seeds, and the provision on the market means official trade. So there is no connection to the allotment garden and the exchange or sale between friends and acquaintances.
The “provision of seeds” was intended to be simplified with the reform of the seed regulations, but at the time it also met with a lot of criticism because, although it brought advantages to large agricultural companies, it would have been more difficult for smaller companies to sell old and rare varieties.
These would probably have been exempt from the registration requirement, as was reported , but how are allotment gardeners and businesses supposed to get rare varieties when they may no longer be sold by large traders? It was feared that there would only be “one-size-fits-all” seeds.
The proposal failed
was reported in May 2014 , the members of the EU Commission rejected the reform proposal with a resounding 650 votes to 14: The EU states would have too little leeway, the bureaucratic effort for rare and old varieties would be too high, there would be There is a risk that hobby gardeners will only be able to buy uniform seeds.
False claims since 2018
So the matter is done? Not at all, because in 2018 the first users on social media dug up the old discussions and claimed, for example, that “ Uschi Reinhardt from the Lower Saxony town of Schamallah ” was no longer allowed to grow old tomato varieties in her garden because of the Seed Traffic Act ( we reported ). Yes, she can. But she would have to pay a fee to be allowed to sell.
In 2019 it was also reported that “ allotment gardeners are turning into serious criminals ” when they grow old varieties of fruit and vegetables. But they simply have to be registered for trade, and not for no reason or as a form of harassment, because an uncontrolled reverse mutation poses the risk that, for example, poisons that are no longer contained in a fruit or vegetable due to breeding will suddenly be found in it again .
In 2021 the claim resurfaced , this time with the claim that it costs 25,000 euros in fines to grow old varieties of fruit and vegetables in your own garden. And still wrong: Only if you want to trade professionally do you have to register and pay a fee.
Conclusion
The EU does not ban the private cultivation of old varieties of fruit and vegetables. Not then, not now either. The screenshot is based on an article from 2013, which only talked about regulation, not a ban, which would only have affected farmers. The proposal was rejected by a very large majority in 2014.
Additional source:
Corrective
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