The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Federation for Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the International Seed Federation (ISF) jointly organized the First World Conference on Organic Seed: Challenges and Opportunities for Organic Agriculture and the Seed Industry, in FAO, Rome, from 5 to 7 July 2004.

From the outset, the organic community and the seed industry agreed to disagree on a few issues, namely organic breeding and GMOs. It was a deliberate choice to incorporate the knowledge gained by the so-called conventional seed sector (that ISF represents) on technical and economical aspects of seed production into the context of organic agriculture (whose principles are imbedded in IFOAM). FAO’s main interest in this dialogue was to consider and develop issues of interest to developing countries, with a view to facilitating their participation in organic agriculture development.

The aim of the Conference, therefore, was to provide a discussion forum for knowledge exchange between farmers, individuals operating throughout the organic supply chain, the seed industry, scientists and policy-makers. The specific objectives were to: • create a platform for international information and knowledge exchange between the organic movement and the “conventional” seed sector; • focus on scientific/technical aspects related to organic seed issues; • evaluate regulatory requirements and related issues for organic seed, and • provide a platform for networking and cooperation.