37 LIVESEEDING project partners from 15 European countries gathered in Zagreb for an Organic Seed Policy Conference on 18 October to discuss how to boost organic seeds and plant breeding, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe where the sector is still underdeveloped.

While European legislation requires the use of organic seeds in organic agriculture, the loose handling of derogations for non-organic seeds discourages entrepreneurship in organic seed. In the framework of LIVESEEDING, much-needed resources to leading organisations of the organic seed sector are provided to end the practice of derogations and make 100 % organic seeds in Europe a reality. For the first time, in the new EU organic regulation a definition for "organic varieties" was set and recently implementing directives for the release of organic plant varieties that are suitable for organic production were published: Directive (EU) 2022/1647 and Directive (EU) 2022/1648.