The 3rd LiveSeeding online workshop on Organic Heterogeneous Material took place on 29th April 2024. It brought together almost 50 participants interested in OHM, representing different stakeholders – researchers, breeders, seed producers and public authorities – across Europe.
Organic Heterogeneous Material (OHM) refers to a genetically and phenotypically diverse plant grouping of a single plant species (e.g. wheat or maize), produced in accordance with Article 3 of the EU Organic Regulation. In contrast to varieties, variety mixtures or synthetic varieties, OHM is characterized by its dynamic nature to evolve and adapt to different growing conditions due to repeated natural and human selection.
The aim of the 3rd OHM workshop was to take a step back and to discuss challenges stakeholders are facing with OHM development, marketing and the policy framework. Setting the stage, key common topics were addressed in four presentations by experts in their respective fields:
Ilsa Phillips from IFOAM OE gave a concise update on policy developments regarding OHM within the trialogue negotiations of the EU proposal on plant reproductive material. Results of a research project studying examples of OHM value chains for bread baking in Germany were presented by Dr Odette Weedon from Kassel University. Diego Guidotti from Aedit covered the topic of digital tools for managing OHM traceability developed within the LiveSeeding project. Finally, Sebastian Kussmann from the organic breeding initiative GZPK (Switzerland) concluded with an overview of first results on his survey on opportunities and challenges of the market uptake of OHM.
The survey is ongoing and can be found at: https://findmind.ch/c/JHaj-SsaR
Concrete challenges and experiences of participants with OHM were collected in three break-out rooms. It became clear that it is important to engage new partners in OHM development, seed production and marketing and clarify open policy questions, e.g. the responsible authorities for official seed controls. Stakeholders should work together to demonstrate the credibility and potential of the OHM concept. Often opposing concerns of different groups (believing, e.g., that there are either too many or too few options to register intellectual property rights on OHM) have to be actively addressed. It should be possible to pursue modular solutions adapted to specific situations. Above all, however, partners interested in OHM should remain active in their countries – especially at this stage of the trialogue negations – ensuring an optimal policy framework for OHM.
You can find the presentations of the previous two OHM workshops on the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLccjPZoqxq7RP5rKz5RbvPCT_kniDxerG
