Australian native seed sector characteristics and perceptions indicate low capacity for upscaled ecological restoration: insights from the Australian Native Seed Report

Abstract

The Australian Native Seed Sector survey was conducted in 2016–2017 under the auspices of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation. Respondents self‐selected into a seed supply (Seed Collector, Seed Production Area Grower) or seed demand (Seed Purchaser, Other User) group category. Issue statements facing the sector with respect to limiting opportunities for ecological restoration were presented to survey respondents who ranked them in order of importance. Findings revealed that the order of statement importance varied depending on the primary role (Group) of the respondent in the sector. When combined across groups, the issues of most importance were: future seed demand will be difficult to meet from wild harvest; the seed market is unwilling to pay for the true cost of seed collection/seed production; there is a lack of available seed from a broad range of species; and demand for seed is inconsistent and/or unpredictable. The survey also revealed that the native seed sector is underpinned by a remarkably small and underresourced workforce, composed primarily of sole or small operators, which presents a clear concern to all users of native seed, not only in terms of current capacity for ecological restoration, but also to meet any large and rapid increases in future demand.

Australian native seed sector practice and behavior could limit ecological restoration success: further insights from the Australian Native Seed Report

“…1–5 km) can create logistical difficulties and even ethical conundrums for both suppliers and users, especially if seed from those restricted ranges/provenances is unavailable, limited, rare, of poor quality, or low genetic diversity (Broadhurst et al 2008; Hancock & Hughes 2012; Delpratt & Gibson‐Roy 2015; Nevill et al 2018). This may explain why respondents ranked the statement provenance stipulations are too restrictive at 3.3 (wa) (Gibson‐Roy et al 2021 a ) suggesting many feel local provenance requirements are difficult to meet.…”

“…Therefore, to develop a more comprehensive snapshot of seed use, the survey explored behaviors around seed ordering and collection/purchase volumes. On ordering, respondents considered seed orders are typically made at too short a notice (Gibson‐Roy et al 2021 a ), but when questioned on practice, findings revealed that both seed demand groups and Seed Collectors marginally nominated forward ordering or collection to order over opportunistic ordering or collection to order, suggesting this perception may not be quite consistent with current behavior.…”

“…Groups were at times referred to as seed supply groups (Seed Collectors, SPA Growers) and seed demand groups (Seed Purchasers, Other Users). Please note that the acronym SPA (in SPA Growers) relates to the term Seed Production Area—which can be defined as a location/s where seed production techniques are implemented to manage wild or cultivated populations as seed crops to increase seed supply for restoration (Gibson‐Roy et al 2021 a , 2021 b ). Some survey questions were worded slightly differently, depending on the group, to allow comparison within and among groups (e.g.…”

“…Those findings indicated that the sector faces numerous constraints in terms of workforce size, capacity and cohesiveness. This article will report on specific sector practices under the following topic areas: Licensing compliance Seed origin Seed ordering, seed volumes, and plant type preference Species diversity and seed end‐use Seed handling and testing It will explore if findings from these areas shed further light on sector capacity and if these are consistent with perceived sector concerns observed in Gibson‐Roy et al (2021 a ).…”

“…Gibson‐Roy et al (2021 a ) detailed selected findings from the Australian Native Seed Sector Survey (Hancock et al 2020), focusing on the sector's structural characteristics and participant views which included the ranking of issues of most concern for seed supply and demand. Those findings indicated that the sector faces numerous constraints in terms of workforce size, capacity and cohesiveness.…”