Uschi Reinhardt breeds heirloom tomato varieties – but does that mean she violates German law?
We received inquiries about an image that is currently circulating on social media.
It's about a lady named Uschi Reinhardt who grows heirloom tomato varieties in her garden. However, according to the Seed Traffic Act, this should be prohibited.
This is what the picture looks like:

Uschi Reinhardt from Stimmelah in Lower Saxony has been growing heirloom tomato varieties in her garden for many years.
She wants to save old, tasty varieties to preserve the diversity of vegetables, but this is forbidden according to the Seed Traffic Act!
But Uschi Reinhardt doesn't care at all, she defies German law!
I support you, Ms. Reinhardt!
The fact check
Uschi Reinhardt from Schamallah in Lower Saxony has actually been growing heirloom tomato varieties in her garden for many years. Jeon Boué interviewed Ms. Reinhardt in his report “Forbidden Vegetables ,” which was broadcast on NDR.
However, the statement that the Seed Traffic Act prohibits the preservation of old, tasty varieties or the variety of vegetables is not true.
Everyone is allowed to plant and harvest old varieties in their home garden. It just depends on what you end up doing with it. Private exchange and giving away is of course permitted and is not only limited to the fruits themselves, but also to the seeds.
Things look a little different if, for example, you want to pass on the seeds commercially - i.e. you want to earn money with them. The SaatG requires certain quality standards that are checked through the approval process.
If, as Ms. Reinhardt does, you want to breed or trade old varieties in your own garden to maintain diversity, this falls under the Conservation Variety Ordinance (including amateur varieties), which counteracts these strict quality standards.
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.
These fees can also be viewed at the Federal Plant Variety Office . If Uschi Reinhardt pays these fees, she can pass on her old varieties commercially or trade them.
If it does not pay these fees and if the Conservation Variety Ordinance did not exist, it would “have to” Section 3 of the SaatG . an administrative offense under Section 60 of the same law can because it is a minor violation of the legal rules - in contrast to a criminal offense, which is .
Result:
The SaatG does not prohibit the rescue of old varieties to preserve vegetable diversity.
Conservation varieties also fall under the “Conservation Varieties Ordinance”, which is intended to facilitate the approval and distribution of old varieties.
Ms. Reinhardt “defies German law” by not paying the fees for the approval of these conservation varieties.
Further information: The directives on the marketing of vegetable seeds are valid (Court of Justice of the European Union)
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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 )

