Old fruit and vegetable varieties and allotment gardeners: It is not always so clear what is allowed and what is not. Here's an overview!
Some very lurid articles with not always entirely clear origins speak of allotment gardeners who turn into serious criminals before the law because they grow old varieties of fruit and vegetables or sell the seeds of these varieties. So this seed is what it's supposed to be about.
Some of this has a real basis, but on the other hand, some of this information has mutated into disinformation due to misrepresentations. We therefore separate myth and distortion in this article.
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Myth: Cultivation forbidden for allotment gardeners?!
Anyone who is an allotment gardener: Cultivation is not initially prohibited, but trading in unregistered fruit and vegetables is prohibited. Since there are some plants that only became non-toxic through breeding and have the potential to be deadly if reverse mutated uncontrollably, this is not completely wrong.
In this respect, you can plant and harvest old varieties in your home garden without being a “felon” as various content suggests. But, and now it becomes important: it depends on what you ultimately do with it. Anyone who consumes it themselves or gives it as a gift will have no problems. This also applies to seeds.
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However, the situation is different for allotment gardeners if they want to pass on the seeds or fruits commercially - i.e. if they want to earn money with them. The Seed Traffic Act requires certain quality standards that are checked through the approval process.
The Federal Plant Variety Office writes in the leaflet on conservation varieties:
The “Conservation Variety Ordinance” contains simplifications for the approval and distribution of seeds of landraces and other varieties of agricultural species as well as vegetable species that are of interest for the conservation of genetic resources. In addition, the trade in so-called “amateur varieties” seeds is regulated. These are vegetables that in themselves have no value for large-scale, professional vegetable cultivation, but are of interest for hobby or regional cultivation due to their special properties. Only small fees are charged for the approval of conservation varieties. An increasing interest in the marketing of old agricultural varieties and vegetables can also be seen in the significant increase in the number of approvals of conservation/amateur varieties.
The difference between selling, giving away and exchanging plays a big role here!
Controversial
There is also criticism of the legal situation. For example, the Dreschflegel eV association speaks on its own website about restrictive legislation and slow reform processes ( see here ). But the association also repeatedly points out in its publications that seeds that are not listed cannot be traded.
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already published an article on this topic .
Article image: Shutterstock / By monticello
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )