For more than 25 years, ARCHE NOAH and its 14000 members have been preserving and cultivating endangered vegetable, fruit and grain diversity. They do this both through practical activities, such as the operation of a seed bank with 5500 seed samples and cooperation with plant breeders and regional farmers, as well as political advocacy work. They stand up for policies in the EU and Member States that promote agricultural biodiversity and small scale agriculture, and ensure healthy and tasty food. Achieving fundamental reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is their core long-term goal.

ARCHE NOAH was established in 1990 as an initiative of heirloom gardeners, farmers and journalists, concerned with the future of seeds and heirloom varieties.

Over the last 100 years, the diversity of their cultivated plants has dramatically decreased all over the globe due to the industrialisation of agriculture – more than 75% are already lost.

Today, genetic engineering and various seed-monopolies, climate change and wars are threatening this precious heritage.

ARCHE NOAH responds to the loss of agro-biodiversity with a positive vision and numerous activities. All of them can contribute to more diversity through cultivation of threatened varieties in their gardens, through consumer awareness and political commitment.

What they are about:

Crop diversity has developed over generations. People have cultivated and farmed plants for thousands of years, resulting in an incredible diversity of locally used and adapted crops. There was – and, in many places, still is – a close relationship between people and their plants.

Crop diversity is severely threatened. 75% of all crop variety has become extinct since 1900. One of the main reasons is the industrialisation of agriculture. Commercial farming uses few species and varieties. Only about 100 crop species (of more than 4,800 known species) make up 90% of globally harvested food. Laws, corporate interests, consumer behaviour, environmental disasters, armed conflicts, the disappearance of small-scale farming, among other factors compound the danger to seed diversity on a global level.

Crop diversity means life: crop diversity is part of the basis of their diet, of their life – just like air or water. It ensures that agriculture can adapt to changing environmental conditions (keyword: climate change) and new diseases or pests. It also ensures that suitable crops are also available for remote regions and extreme conditions – wherever people live who have to feed themselves.

You too can do a great deal for diversity: by growing, purchasing, and cooking, or passing on seeds, knowledge, and enthusiasm.

What they do:

Preserve diversity for a livable future. From today's perspective, it is impossible to say which plant species or cultivars, or “genetic resources”, will be “important” one day. It is therefore irresponsible to dispose of these precious rare crops. They must preserve and continue to develop seed diversity and knowledge of cultivation. They have to make them available, to safeguard not only the basis of agriculture, but also the richness of flavours that enhance their quality of life.

This attitude connects 13,000 members involved with ARCHE NOAH today – it’s not a question of having a garden or not. It is a vision of providing respectful care for nature as their number one provider. It is to look at their cultivated plants respectfully, to value gardening and farming as a cultural achievement, to consider ethically-motivated consumption as a contribution to organic and sustainable agriculture, to make cooking a declaration of love…