Heirloom fruit and vegetable cultivars could be making a comeback into seed catalogues.
The government are planning to simplify the process of registration and encourage sellers to include more conservation varieities in their catalogues. They are inviting those who sell vegetable seeds to amateur gardeners to comment on its proposals.
The European Commission has relaxed the rules which made registering of varieties of seed an expensive and complicated process. This was done in response to complaints that it restricted genetic variation in vegetable cultivars.
The government also says the demand for heirloom vegetable cultivars and those grown only by amateur gardeners has risen steeply, by about 40% in the last two years. Such seeds have only been available through memberships of organisations, such as the Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library and seed swaps.
The government believes that making heritage cultivars widely available on the open market, growers will contribute towards the conservation and preservation of traditional varieties.
The consultation will be open until the 29th October 2010