In a season of drought and monoculture meltdown, there is a need to ensure the preservation, cultivation and circulation of peasant seeds that can survive increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation. The CLIMAVORE Station in Southern Italy works with agroecological farmers and cooperatives to propagate and circulate self-reproduced seeds that have co-evolved with human and other ecologies over millennia.

With droughts becoming more frequent in Sicilia and Puglia—two Italian regions with highest aridity index—it is becoming increasingly common for many small-scale farmers to decide that it is just not worth planting vegetables. In turn, precipitation levels dramatically dropping, aquifers increasingly depleted, water cuts and the agro-industry exacerbating and inadequately responding to environmental catastrophes, only makes the act of making food more contested. But at the same time, new possibilities deriving from dry farming and agroecological adaptation can still inform the transformation of foodways and their arid-related ecologies. Seeds that co-evolve with farming practices are a key tool for the preservation of food heritage and the advancement of aridoculture, especially in places and geographies where the friction of the terrain made it difficult for the soil and seeds to be industrially ‘efficient’. Cultivation on the margins of agribusiness led to ‘coevolutionary mutualism’—ways for multiple species to grow together in harsh climate conditions. However, growers and farmers face regulatory challenges to continue such heritage practices that range from limitations on the commercialisation of self-reproduced seeds to the introduction of new genomic techniques and regulations around non-organic heterogenous plant material.

Monoculture Meltdown is a long-term project that advocates for the recognition of free adaptation and cultivation of less water-dependent seeds as a key tool for the agriculture of the future, the preservation of cultural heritage in times of ecological collapse, and ultimately, the rights of future generations. It brings together diverse practices from agroecology, advocacy, law, and contemporary art to support the transition of food systems to fewer water dependencies in the face of the climate crisis. It fosters the idea of promiscuous genealogies: forms of plant exchange allowing phenotypes to freely express and differences across specimens not to be standardised.

Challenging the unregistered origins of peasant seeds, the CLIMAVORE Station in Sicilia and Puglia works with museums, cultural institutions and their living collections to create a provenance for drought-resistant seeds, while working with legal scholars to cultivate the rights of and to seeds in the Anthropocene.

Cultivating the Rights of/to Seeds

The work involves three strands of activity, including working with a network of 20 farmers and cooperatives engaged in observation, cultivation, reproduction and propagation of peasants seeds for cultural purposes. This is done through setting up drought nurseries and experimental fields, developing collaborations with Italian cultural institutions and museums to use their living collections and fostering local alliances between seeds, soils, artists, and farmers as hubs and catalysts to bridge the cultural/agricultural divide. In parallel, the Station is advancing conversations between key stakeholders and legal advisors around the rights of and to seeds through new model laws that can expand regional, national and European frameworks to operate in the future present. The rights of nature framework is applied here to cultivated nature as a way to expand the possibilities of failing food systems with the ambition to enhance shared trust, infrastructure, and knowledge networks.

Collaborating propagators in Sicilia include: Az. Agr. Acquaviva, Capo Granitola, Chiantala & Radice Sicula, Coop. Ciauli, Coop. NoE, Coop. Valdibella & Agricola Mpidusa, Lu Panaru, Tizza, Vallone Wilderness & Gesualdo Faulisi. In Puglia: Amedeco & Roberto Polo, Casa delle Agriculture, Coop. AlterEco, Coop. Karadrà, Coop. Pietre di Scarto, Contrada Serulla, Luna nel Pozzo, SeminAzioni, XFarm, Zilletta di Brancia.

The identification and recuperation of localised varieties of drought-resistant seeds under threat of disappearance include a wide range of rare aubergines, beans, capers, chickpeas, lentils, melons, pumpkins or tomatoes and has been developed in close conversation with seed saver Antonio Capriglia (Giardini della Grata, Biosolequo), Angelo Giordano (Serit Seeds), Eva Polare (Sementi Indipendenti) and the farmers and cooperatives involved in the project.

CLIMAVORE Assembly

Bridging the increasing gap between culture and agriculture, we held the first CLIMAVORE Assembly in Rome, 27–29 October 2023, to implement new alliances and forms of mutual support disrupting the broken food chain. The gathering brought together a network of museums advocating for change into a conversation with policy makers, growers, cultivators, grassroot activists, seed keepers, chefs and environmentalists, committed to addressing the climate crisis through food and agroecology. Working on the ground through the Sicilia & Puglia Station we continue the collaboration with museums and cultural institutions in Southern Italy to tackle the shifting aridity lines across the Mediterranean. Expanding the role cultural institutions can have as public platforms to support farmers, cultivators, gardeners and seed savers, the work is advancing ways to plant heritage and drought-resilient peasant seeds, which have co-evolved with humans, soil and climate over millennia. In order to advance their free circulation, a new legal framework is aiming to cultivate the rights of and to seeds in times of increasing heat and water stress.

The work on dryland microclimates in Southern Italy was initiated by Cooking Sections in 2018 as part of What is Above is What is Below—a public installation for Manifesta 12, Palermo. The Sicilia & Puglia Station continues its long-term legacy as part of Monoculture Meltdown, a project developed within CLIMAVORE x Jameel at RCA that reimagines foodways for drylands and wetlands in the climate crisis. It aims to advance ecological networks to produce new knowledge and action towards spatial justice.

The work in Italy is led by PIs Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe (Cooking Sections), project manager Dani Burrows with Research Associate Enrico Milazzo and local coordinators Davide Palmieri and Gabriella Patera, in partnership with Vessel Art Project in Puglia.

Rights of Seeds working group: Mari Margil (Centre for Environmental and Democratic Rights), PRIN LUMEN led by Silvia Bagni (Università di Bologna), Veronica Federico (Università degli Studi di Firenze) and Serena Baldin (Università degli Studi di Trieste). Collaborators: NICHE at Università Ca’Foscari Venezia, Museo delle Civiltà in Roma, MUSE in Trento, Kilowatt in Bologna, Aterraterra and Ecomuseo Memoria Viva in Palermo. Additional interlocutors: Francesco Panié (Crocevia), Giuseppina Pisciotta Tosini, Tommaso La Mantia (Università degli Studi di Palermo).

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