The ongoing availability of locally-grown fruit and vegetable varieties is crucial to a resilient, sustainable local food supply. Seeds are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small number of overseas companies: it is critical to reduce dependence on a global seed supply chain which is vulnerable to shocks such as global pandemics...

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Southland Seed Savers Network (SSSN) exists to facilitate the growing and sharing of seeds of varieties that are either unique to Southland or that are known to do particularly well here.

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History of the SSSN

This group was established in 1999 by the late Henry Harrington of Ohai to develop a network whereby growers could share non-hybrid seeds that grew well in Southland. Henry advised, admonished, encouraged and entertained us with his deep knowledge and respect for the world of plants and we are very much the richer for it. Henry left us with a legacy that we act upon every day and we are grateful to him.

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As part of a nationwide network of Seed Saving Groups, home gardeners from throughout N.Z. were sending us their seeds to trial in Southland. With 19 seed saver groups around New Zealand we were a band of home gardeners protecting the legacy brought to N.Z. by our ancestors. These plants have fed us down through generations.

Over the years we offered the opportunity for people to 'adopt a seed' that we had little of and bulk it up over a couple of years by saving all the seed possible. As seed savers come and go, and beginners get practising, we developed a guardian system for some of our more rare varieties.

In 2007 we started caring for some Otago seeds to look after for the two provinces. Kay Baxter, a well known heritage seed saver who founded Koanga Gardens in the North island wanted to source Southland seeds for sale, but our numbers were not high enough to support commercial sales.

In 2008 we sought to bulk up our seed stocks by leasing some small parcels of land near Riverton for the project. We hoped this could build to a point where it would create a couple of part time jobs. However, funding was not found.

Over the intervening years enthusiasm for seed saving has waxed and waned and many of the seeds that were sent out from the seed collection were not returned. In 2021 we sourced some of Henry's original seed lines (which have been kept going by some other organisations, primarily the Koanga Institute) and requested seasoned seed savers to grow these varieties in Southland and Otago to 're-localise' them. As quantities of these seeds has increased we have gradually started offering them for sale from Riverton Environment Centre.​

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How to Save Seeds

If you would like advice on seed saving or would like to attend a workshop in your area please contact us. More information on seed saving is below.​