Introducing our new collaborative data project

Grower and steering group member Richard Galpin explains why the London Freedom Seed Bank started a data project, and how it has become so important for the work of the seed bank. 

When did it start? The London Freedom Seed Base (LFSBase for short) started in early 2020 as an attempt to log the seeds we currently have in stock in the London Freedom Seed Bank. While activities were limited by Covid-19, it grew into a wider attempt to track and record seed saving activity in London. It has become an important tool for understanding the work of the London Freedom Seed Bank more widely. 

Why did the London Freedom Seed Bank need a database? We wanted to be able to track and record how seed passed from one grower to the next. How many of the seeds coming in to the bank were from London-saved seeds originally? How many generations had they been grown for?

Why is this important? We know that plant varieties become locally adapted as they are grown and saved in one place. We only select seed from plants that do well, so the very act of seed saving reinforces specific traits. This selection process makes the crop increasingly suited to the conditions in which it is grown.

We wanted to track the interaction between Varieties, Growing Spaces, Seed Batches and Growers. The relationship between these four elements is key. We may have multiple growers in the same growing space, or multiple seed batches from the same grower. A popular variety that starts with one grower, becomes grown by multiple growers. A standard excel sheet just couldn’t capture this complexity.

The history and the grower’s knowledge are important too. The stories that attach to particular varieties, and the recommendation of how best to grow them, all help to advance the seed’s progression from one grower to the next. Saving the knowledge helps to save the seed, and vice-versa. Could data help us to understand this dynamic better?

What is the difference between Varieties and Seed Batches? Varieties are traditionally seen as static. Different seed batches of the same variety should be genetically identical. But the idea of local adaptability confounds this. Batches are not identical if they continue to adapt. But they do remain attached to a common name and an idea about the particular ‘identifiable traits’ that a particular variety should aspire to. This is done by ‘roguing out’ off-type characteristics or undesirable traits – or by only selecting plants for seed saving that exhibit the best of those identifiable characteristics. But the extent of this ‘variety maintenance’ varies from grower to grower, and year to year, so we know there must be variation across different seed batches of the same variety. 

How did you build the database? We used the Airtable platform, which some of our team had experience of using for recent food insecurity and Mutual Aid work. Airtable allows for quick creation of a very flexible database, and powerful capacity to filter and share information. For example, we will be able to track only varieties that had been grown in a particular type of growing space, or filter by available stocks or plant type. We can also provide a personal log of all the varieties grown by a single grower, supporting their own record-keeping. Network members can have full back-end access to the database and the information will be provided by, and shared with, us the growers.

How has the project evolved? This project has shown that the knowledge which is shared along with physical seeds is a very important part of the process – this can be useful to growers with or without the seeds themselves. Therefore it begins to make sense to extend the base to include any seed saved in London, whether or not we held current stocks in the bank. Growers who share seed locally, or save seed only for their own use, still hold a unique genetic resource, with potential for future growing. Awareness of what other growers have successfully saved, and varieties that do well in London conditions, all contribute to the pool of shared seed saving knowledge.

What have you learnt?  Interesting patterns are beginning to emerge in the data. For example, we are beginning to be able to see how a variety that was shared at an event in 2015, came back to the bank twofold or threefold the following year. But other varieties, or seed events were not so generative. What information was shared about the seed, and does this make a difference? Can the data tell us whether the stories attached to certain varieties mean they are more likely to generate the motivation to grow and preserve that variety? Does this start to help us understand how seed sharing networks can grow?

Has this changed the way you see the LFSB? The LFSBase project has helped us to reflect on what the purpose of the seed bank is. In wider conversations in the steering group we are continuing to explore a serious of questions such as ‘Can the LFSB claim to be a seed commons?’, ‘How should it be governed? ‘ and ‘What else do we share other than seed?’  What has become clearer is that the physical seeds are only a part of the resource that we aim to nurture and share at LFSB – there is also an abundance of social relations, grower knowledge, non-human genetic seed knowledge, and political aspiration. We hope that the LFSBase can help us to share some of these other important resources too.

What Next? So far we have logged 109 seed batches of 103 unique varieties, from 54 growing spaces and 40 individual growers. But we know there is a lot more seed saving activity that we don’t know about. We are now asking for help in building and shaping this resource. We are interested in any London seed saving activity, with no obligation to share seed with us.

How can people submit data?
There is a form for submitting seed data on our website. (Or you can send information by email).

Where can people view the data submitted?
You can view the database via our website: Varieties / Growing Spaces / Seed Batches/ Growers

We would love to hear from you with any feedback or queries.