Creole Seed Festivals: resistance and reexistence in the face of challenges

Abstract

The appropriation of seeds is embedded in multiple rationalities involving models of production and consumption applied to agricultural activities and the exploitation of natural resources, which promote their commodification and the monopolization of agrobiodiversity. In this context, the Festas Feiras de Sementes Crioulas (Heirloom Seed Festivals) give rise to practices of resistance and struggles for territory, where various social movements organize around the defense of seeds. The festivals were investigated as spaces for the construction of resistance and reexistence in the face of the dynamics of hegemonic agriculture. This article presents the results of a qualitative and descriptive study conducted between 2020 and 2024, involving participant observation during Festas Feiras de Sementes Crioulas in Paraná, Brazil. Based on oral narratives and direct observations, it was found that these spaces play a crucial role in the preservation of heirloom seeds, the valuing of agrobiodiversity, and the development of agroecological farming practices. The research shows that these festivals are configured as territorial practices that oppose the forces of deterritorialization imposed by modern agriculture, spaces of resistance that, from within the challenges, give rise to reexistence and reterritorialization through the heirloom seed. Thus, the findings indicate that these festivals are concrete expressions of struggle and resistance, promoting the pluridiversity of territories.