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PRI New Zealand (Koanga Institute)

Details

Commenced:	01/01/1987
Submitted:	15/07/2015
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	96 Kotare Road, Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, NZ
Phone:	+64 6 8386269
Website:	www.koanga.org.nz
Climate zone:	Mediterranean

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PRI New Zealand (Koanga Institute)

Project Type

Rural, Intentional Communities, Demonstration, Educational, PRI Master Plan

Project Summary

A national seed saving organisation dedicated to saving the heritage food plants of Aotearoa. Providing a broad range of Permaculture based workshops and education programs.

Project Description

The Koanga Institute is committed to:

· The protection, conservation and development of NZ's genetic and cultural heritage food plants

· Investigating the nutritional and health benefits of selected plants in our collection

· Exploring the benefits of heritage plants and animals in biological production systems

· The development of educational programs that focus on the practical skills in the field of sustainable living

· Research into the world wide innovation of sustainable living

The vision of the Institute is born out of 30 years of collecting heritage fruit trees, vegetables and flowers by Kay Baxter and others, in association with the Koanga Institute. This nationally important collection is in turn built on the foundation of hundreds of generations of gardeners and farmers who have nurtured the biodiversity and cultural heritage upon which civilisation has developed (we have co-evolved with our food plants and animals).

Much of the Koanga Institute's work has been in response to the fact that in the past 100 years much of the genetic diversity in food plants, all over the world, has disappeared as a result of the industrialisation of our food production.

In the process of 'saving the seeds', all those involved have come to the wider realisation that not just the ecology of our 'food evolution' has been compromised by industrialisation, but many other aspects of our 'human ecology' have likewise been compromised, and we can't address the one issue (eg seed saving) in isolation. Seed Saving is one aspect of the broader need to address our 'human ecology'. Thus, while an immediate priority for the Institute is seed protection and conservation, it is also committed to contributing practical holistic solutions in the wider field of sustainable living, and the development of our Education programs to facilitate the passing on of what we learn.

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