About Us

The Koanga Institute exists to protect and make available the heritage food plants of New Zealand. We have a collection of over 700 seed lines, which are all grown in New Zealand. This makes our collection unique, as the seeds are adapted to our climates, soils and cultural needs. They are almost all the seeds of our own ancestors. The seeds are grown by the Institute using sustainable, organic growing methods, and are available to Institute Members and a smaller range is available to the general public. We are an independent charitable trust, supported by our members and by the sale of our seeds, plant material and fruit trees. For over 27 years, we have been collecting New Zealand heritage fruit trees, vegetables and flowers.

Our work is in response to the fact that since 1900, the world has lost more than 90% of the global genetic biodiversity in our food plants. They are extinct, irretrievable. These plants have disappeared largely as a result of the industrialisation of our food production. The seeds in our collection are the strongest seeds that we have. They have the strongest genetic diversity, and have co-evolved with us over thousands of generations. These seeds are us. In particular, we are saving the seeds that are New Zealand heirloom seeds – those that have been brought to Aotearoa by our ancestors and grown in gardens here for many generations.

In the process of saving our seeds, we have come to the realisation that not just the ecology of our "food evolution" has been compromised, but many other aspects of our "human ecology" have been severely compromised. These two areas have close implications for each other, so both must be addressed. The primary focus for the Koanga Institute is seed protection and conservation, but we are also committed to bringing forward practical, holistic solutions to the wider field of sustainable living.