Seeding Natives - Seed Production Area

Seeding Natives Incorporated are a non-for-profit organisation that specialises in the ecological restoration of native grasslands. The seed production area at the Barossa Bushgardens is one of several areas where a wide variety of grassland species are grown and seed collected.

Native seed production work is critically important in a state where native grasslands are among the most threatened ecosystems. In South Australia, more than 99% of native grasslands have been lost or severely degraded due to clearing, fragmentation, and land-use change. What remains is highly vulnerable, yet immensely valuable for biodiversity, soil health, and landscape resilience. 

The BBG’s native seed production area stands as a practical response to this loss—helping to safeguard genetic diversity, rebuild ecological function, and enable large-scale grassland restoration for current and future generations.

The native seed production areas at BBG has its origins in a visionary community led restoration effort that began in 2011. Construction commenced as part of the project Increasing Ecological Richness in a Grassy Woodland in the Upper Torrens Catchment, delivered by the Upper Torrens Land Management Project and supported by the Barossa Council. 

From the outset, the site was designed not simply as a demonstration of grassland species, but as a working landscape capable of producing large quantities of native seed from robust, locally appropriate genetic sources to support the direct seeding of native grasslands and associated ecosystems across the region.

Over the life of the project, which concluded in 2016, the project and seed production area proved highly successful, both ecologically and operationally. So much was learned about native seed production, grassland establishment, and large-scale restoration that it became clear the work should not end.

 This led to the formation of a dedicated not-for-profit Incorporated Association and registered charity with Deductible Gift Recipient status, Seeding Natives Incorporated. 

Since that time, the Barossa Bush Gardens seed production area has continued to operate as a cornerstone of grassland restoration in South Australia, producing many tonnes of native seed over its lifetime and continuing to yield hundreds of kilograms annually from a broad diversity of species, particularly within the highly diverse ground layer.