Global Seed Savers

Global Seed Savers is an international NGO that works at a grassroots level throughout the Philippines to return farmers to the collective indigenous knowledge and practices of seed saving. Saving seeds not only creates resilient seeds, but also the communal responsibility supports increased autonomy and resiliency. The most sustainable option for farmers in the Philippines is to grow, save and re-propagate seeds that can continuously adapt through ongoing saving and re-propagation. In 2015, GSS expanded to bring on local Filipino leadership, which enabled the launch of GSS’s founding Seed School in Tublay. Shortly after, GSS conducted Seed Schools across six different regions, engaged seven local farmer leaders, and formed its initial group of seed savers. In 2017, GSS established Global Seed Savers Philippines (GSSP), a counterpart, in-country NGO, to continue to sustainably build capacity and be responsive to needs within the Philippines. Since GSS expanded in 2015, it has trained over farmers in seed saving, founded six community seed libraries, and hired more local Filipino staff.