RIA’s Seed Saving Presentation for the July 2002 ACGA Conference

WHY’s Web Site Spotlight on Seed Saving began by asking seed saving efforts around the world what made their programs work – how they were begun, what challenges they faced and what additional needs their programs were able to meet through new complementary programs. Reading through these seed saving models from different regions of Africa and the Americas, it is clear that there are different regional focuses to seed saving projects, different reasons that seed saving has become a priority and different communities that benefit from these efforts.

Reinvesting in America’s presentation at the American Community Gardeners Association: Gardeners Restore our World Conference sought to share some of the different regional focuses of the seed saving efforts contained in WHY’s Spotlight on Seed Saving and to show how seed saving groups in different contexts face similar challenges which can be met through successfully publicizing their efforts with the media. The presentation begins with an explanation of why seed saving is important and how it is done, continues with a description of WHY’s website Spotlight on Seed Saving, touches on the different regional focuses of seed saving and the complementary programs that these efforts have developed to respond to additional community needs, and finishes with a look at how WHY’s spotlighted groups have successfully publicized their efforts highlighting the success story of the Deccan Development Society in India.

Seed Saving refers to the preservation of “heirloom” or “heritage” seeds, seeds that have been improved from season to season by a process of natural selection. This process has been going on for generations, to preserve the plants and the seeds that have produced the highest yields, proved disease resistant and faired best over a broad range of climate and soil conditions. Hybrid seeds combine the characteristics of several different plants and do not grow true to the parent seed each year. These seeds must be re-created every season and cannot be saved. Farmers have found that the hybrid seeds they attempted to save and replant grew into something unrecognizable or were sterile. Open-pollinated heritage seeds are seeds that come from parents of the same species and that remain constant from one season to the next. When the most desirable plants are chosen over many generations, the characteristics gradually become stabilized in the succeeding generations of the variety. Historically, this is the way that seeds were selected, up until the twentieth century when hybrid seeds were introduced.

The seed saving process itself begins after the harvest, when seed is cleaned and dried in the sun or in small low-temperature driers for one to two weeks. Seed is then placed in airtight buckets overnight with ash as a drying agent, and placed back in the sun or in the drier during the day. After the seeds have been thoroughly dried, they can be stored in oxygen impermeable plastic bags or containers with silica gel to ensure that no moisture gets through.

Seeds are often stored in Community Seed Banks with ventilation and rodent proof mechanisms where they can then be distributed to farms and households. Seeds are often distributed through Seed Loans where a farmer who receives 1 kg of seed will reimburse the Seed Loan Program with 2 kg of seed after the harvest of his crops. In some cases, as with the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) in Kenya, the Community Seed Bank works with local organizations to deposit seeds into group-operated stores where a portion of the seed can then be sold to generate income. Seed saving groups aim to preserve and share these valuable resources. In addition to distributing seeds to member gardeners, the Seed Savers Exchange of Iowa, for example, makes an effort to supplies seeds to non-profit gardening projects for children, low-income groups, and neighborhoods as well.

World Hunger Year’s web site currently features a “Model to Model Dialogue Series” with a Spotlight on Seed Saving as the first in the series. The Model to Model Dialogues are designed to create synergies and dialogue between innovative grassroots models working around a specific effort to eliminate hunger and poverty. The Spotlight on Seed Saving brings together excellent seed saving efforts around the world, and provides useful information on how these projects got started, what resources were needed, what methods used, and what challenges organizations have faced implementing these programs. The Spotlight is a valuable resource to those interested in beginning their own seed saving programs. Each spotlight details the particular geographic and economic context within which the program was begun, so that those viewing the site can best determine what sort of project might be best for them based on their own geographic and economic situations. A listing of educational tools made available by the seed saving organization in addition to their contact information are also included in each spotlight. Some of the areas that may be covered in future Model to Model Dialogues are job training, education, economic development, housing and emergency food provision which will be displayed in a variety of different formats. WHY welcomes outside suggestions for future topics for this series.

The act of seed saving is rich in varied purposes. Seed saving efforts are rooted in commitments to the preservation of traditional varieties, increased food security, the self-reliance of rural communities and the development of local infrastructure. In preserving traditional varieties, seeds that produce stronger, more resistant crops without chemical inputs are protected and shared with farmers and people in need. The crops of the traditional Native American seed varieties, for example, exhibit more vigor, cold hardiness, early ripening and disease and insect resistance. Native seed varieties are also better suited to low input agriculture, requiring fewer fertilizers and pesticides. New seeds require precise amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and water, incurring considerable increases in cost for the farmer. These farming methods that depend heavily on chemical fertilizers also generate resistant pests, increasing yet again the amount of fertilizers and pesticides needed to grow food. Besides the emphasis on preservation of seeds that produce stronger crops with lower input from outside resources, seed saving is also a very real way for small farmers to produce more food, and to share seeds with others in need. The nutritional status and food security of many communities are suffering, and seed saving helps alleviate some of this stress. In addition, by saving their own seeds and sharing them amongst neighbors, rural communities are strengthened and farmers’ own self-reliance grows. By focusing on natural systems, farmers can reduce their dependence on the agribusiness corporations that dominate the seed market. These corporations put priority on non-traditional modern crops, requiring chemical inputs that are not adequately tested under local growing conditions and that are thus less stress-tolerant, resulting in poor yields and regular crop failures. And in many countries, as will be explored in this report, seed saving efforts are complemented by additional services that are beneficial to the local community and in many cases to the development of the country’s infrastructure.

Within the range of forces making seed saving a compelling activity for farmers and communities, the seed saving efforts included in the WHY Spotlight on Seed Saving show a difference in focus of these efforts for developed and developing countries. Among the seed saving groups spotlighted, seed saving efforts in the US and Canada are concerned with conserving seeds and increase farmer control, while programs in Indian and African countries (Lesotho, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe) are using seed saving as a way to improve household food security and income.

For India’s seed saving groups, the focus of seed saving work is on survival, especially of the poor. Through the public distribution of seeds initiated by the Deccan Development Society, people are able to access food. In Lesotho and Zambia, seed saving projects keep reserve seed to be used in times of drought, cutting down on times of extreme hunger and malnutrition. In Zimbabwe and Zambia, families involved with seed saving programs have reported increased household food production. Excess seed can be sold to generate greater household income, and ultimately, to uplift the living standards of rural people. And by saving seed, farmers and communities are granted larger management and control of their own resources. In Kenya, the main aim of the Intermediate Technology Development Group is to increase the food security of people in marginal areas throughout the East African region and to assist food producers to take greater control of the decisions that affect their lives. Seeds are one of the few things that smallholder farmers can control in Zimbabwe, for example, where farmers are faced with the added hardships of civil strife, land degradation, structural adjustment programs, poverty and inaccessibility to farm inputs.

Seed saving efforts in the United States and Canada focus more on conservation and education. In Canada, the Organic Seeds Initiative and Seeds of Diversity are working to counter the loss of indigenous seeds, to enable gardeners and farmers to benefit from saving seeds on their own land. In the U.S., the Native Seed Project works to keep genetic materials alive in Native American plants and to teach conservation practices and seed saving know-how. Bountiful Gardens of Ecological Action in California teaches sustainable growing practices for the seeds that they share. Seed saving programs can also create a connection among farmers and gardeners. The Seed Savers Exchange of Iowa has provided an organized link for gardeners who can now work together to protect endangered varieties. And the Farm Breeding Club of Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society (NPSAS) brings farmers and researchers together to share seeds and knowledge.

This farmers network is creating a high quality, freely available source of seeds, and in so doing, is bypassing the control of corporate agriculture. This is another area of focus for US and Canadian seed saving efforts - helping farmers to regain control of their seeds and their work. By focusing on heirloom seeds that have been passed down for centuries rather than on hybrid seeds manufactured by corporations, farmers aim to rediscover and improve upon traditional seed varieties that are adapted to minimal inputs in localized farming systems.

The programs highlighted by WHY’s Spotlight on Seed Saving are models because they are able to successfully meet the needs of their local communities for seed preservation, increased food security and farmer control and self-reliance, and also because they are able to extend their work into other programs to benefit the local community. In addition to saving seeds, these organizations are also contributing to the development of local infrastructure and economies, generating a profit for farmers, providing much needed avenues for education and creating greater sustainability for these communities. In the U.S. and Canada, the groups from WHY’s Spotlight on Seed Saving are also behind projects to build community and provide public education, to promote the economic development of heirloom crops and in one particular case, to create an insurance fund for farmers.

In an effort to educate the general public, the Safe Seed Initiative of Massachusetts prints a national newsletter that monitors the ethical, social and ecological impacts of biotechnology. Also focusing on education and community building, the Seed Savers Exchange of Iowa’s Educational Center, located in the loft of their barn, hosts speeches, garden tours, workshops, dances, and locally grown meals – all of these events bringing together youth and seniors to learn about gardening and seed saving. In building community, important links are formed with other local efforts. In addition to their work to save seeds, the Seed Savers Exchange also works with a local Chef’s Collaborative to encourage chefs to use heirloom varieties in their restaurants, partners with local CSA gardens that want to use their seeds and shares space with the Flower and Herb Exchange. The Garden Institute of Alberta, which hosts the Organic Seed Initiative & Heritage Wheat Project in Canada, aims to use the act of seed planting to replenish both the harvest and the community, bringing people together to share skills, ideas and seeds. They also work with immigrant groups in Alberta to make links with the communities in their countries of origin so that traditional knowledge of plants and their uses can be documented by the communities. This program, “Building on Biodiversity,” benefits both communities in Canada and abroad.

Economic development of heirloom crops is an additional effort made by many US and Canadian seed saving efforts. The Eastern Native Seed Conservancy’s Heirloom Tomato Field Project works to create new niche markets for tomato varieties in southern/western New England and adjacent New York by bringing together farmers, culinary professionals, food purveyors, and consumers to highlight the potential of heirloom varieties. In Canada, Seeds of Diversity conducted two studies of niche market practices and potential in order to assist farmers and market gardeners to make heritage varieties marketable. The Northern Plains Sustainable Agricultural Society (NPSAS’s) “Feeding the Village First” program has created its own localized food system where food grown by farmers in the community is sold locally, rather than importing and exporting necessary food items. This effort is building self-reliance of the local farmers and communities while also contributing to the local economy of heirloom crops. NPSAS also hosts a program that creates a land insurance fund for farmers. This program, called “My Neighbors’ Acre,” pools the resources of a community of farmers to create an economic bridge to be used in the event of inevitable emergencies, making the entire community more self-reliant and resilient.

Seed saving efforts in India and Africa featured on WHY’s Spotlight on Seed Saving are creating programs that provide education to adults and children, improve the local infrastructure, protect and work with natural resources, develop businesses, improve health and empower women.

The Deccan Development Society in India holds a night school for children who work during the day and aims to increase women’s knowledge and skills through a women’s training program in video production. GROW, of Lesotho hosts a Literacy Training Program at night for shepherds who do not have the opportunity to attend school during the day, and a Primary School Improvement Program offering training to teachers and a Children’s Learning Center. Kenya’s Intermediate Technology Development Group holds gender empowerment programs. In India, the Deccan Development Society’s Women’s Self-Help Group gives loans to women and offers weekly meetings to address village concerns including drought, health problems, pest management, and female issues. Zambia’s Rural Community Development and Motivation Project, in addition to saving seeds, also works to construct and rehabilitate schools and hosts programs focusing on preventative health and HIV/AIDS awareness. Mother-child health, nutrition, reproductive education and HIV/AIDS awareness are also major components of GROW’s work, who also focuses on infrastructure development through a sanitation improvement program. A program of the Solomon Islands Planting Material Network, the Kastom Garden Program also works with a hospital primary health care unit to support family nutritional health.

In Kenya, ITDG extends their seed saving work into transportation and technology improvement strategies. They work to make transportation available to rural and urban poor to participate in crop marketing and other economic activities, social services and household tasks such as water and firewood collection. ITDG programs also aim at improving access to shelter, energy and building materials. Zambia’s Rural Community Development and Motivation Project works to construct and rehabilitate shallow wells and rural health centers.

As groups focusing on seed saving, these organizations in Africa are also worked to properly manage their natural resources. Kenya’s ITDG has projects on environmental management and animal health and is also developing and disseminating fuel-efficient household stove technologies, micro-hydro power, low cost hurricane lamps, solar lanterns and indoor air pollution interventions. In Lesotho, GROW’s Tree Production Program creates community forest woodlots and fruit trees.

Promotion of organic food is a major component of India’s seed saving programs. Navdanya Foods, a program of Navdanya sells organic food, particularly grains from those indigenous crops threatened by extinction. The program aims to bridge the gap between the small scale farmers who want to continue practicing ecological and sustainable agriculture and urban consumers who want to purchase nutritious and safe food for their families. Navdanya Foods also organizes and participates in food festivals. The 'Panna' festival from late May to June serves seven indigenous varieties of pannas and squashes. Navdanya has also participated with their own table of food at the Sharbat Festival in Dilli Haat. The Deccan Development Society participates in the Mobile Biodiversity Festival which travels from village to village on a caravan of bullock carts, creating cultural energy around biodiversity and sustainability.

Business development is also a focus of Kenya’s ITDG seed saving program. Their Manufacturing Enterprise Development Program works to improve access for women and men working in the manufacturing sector to: production equipment, business information, technical and production and skills improvement and business skills training.

Regardless of their different focuses and additional project areas, the seed saving groups of WHY’s Spotlight face common challenges. The seed market is currently dominated by large corporations and priority is given to non-traditional modern crops requiring chemical inputs that are not adequately tested under local growing conditions. Through WHY’s relationship with the seed saving groups featured on the website Spotlight on Seed saving, we have learned that in the U.S., despite the benefits of growing plants with heritage seeds that have been passed on for centuries, there remains a strong opposing attitude that new varieties of seeds are better. And in Canada, attempts to control the seed supply and to create uniformity and standardization create severe barriers to seed saving. There is also a prevailing fear that export standards will be compromised if marketing and regulations structure is changed. In addition, there is a strong push to open up the African communities to modern seeds. As reported by PELUM of Zimbabwe, lack of supportive legislation for informal seed production can hamper promotion of smallholder farmers' seed production.

In both Africa and the United States, seed saving groups reported a difficulty in securing funding for their projects. In the U.S, there are a lack of financial resources specifically for seed saving projects to cover the expensive process of growing out seeds. In Africa, organizations like PELUM in Zimbabwe reported that it is difficult too to secure funding to promote local control of seeds.

External factors also affect seed saving programs in the U.S. and Africa, creating challenges to seed saving projects. Because of former input subsidies in Africa, there is also a general lack of credit discipline as well as problems with loan repayment. In Zambia, though loan recovery rates are now improving, there were times when these rates were as low as 50-60%. Additional barriers to food security and establishment of seed saving projects include the common recurrence of droughts and the growing AIDs epidemic which is affecting the active age groups of African countries. In the U.S., as reported by the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy, some Native Americans are weary of working with white Americans and are reluctant to share their native seeds.

Seed saving is not yet institutionalized. U.S. seed saving efforts report that this type of work is not a focus for most people, that much of their work is based on making sure that customers know about the importance of seed saving and that there is a general need for a thorough follow-up with the people that are taking on the task of seed saving. In Canada, organizations are challenged by how to communicate the importance of seed saving across large numbers of people. And throughout Africa, seed saving groups site a lack of solid trust concerning seed reserve withdrawal.

One way to counter the lack of funding, perceptions that new, altered seeds are superior and the need for a larger understanding, an institutionalization of seed saving, is through successful media strategies. Positive media attention can change market demand and in turn have an effect on outdated laws. The seed saving groups featured on WHY’s Model to Model Dialogue Spotlight have used a number of creative methods to attract media attention to their seed saving projects.

When appealing to the media, groups have used a “hook,” have tried to share something practical. Bountiful Gardens in California has published articles on what crops can survive during hard times, on how people can grow more food and save more money – presenting solutions to practical matters and then showing what is new in their catalogue and opening up the dialogue on seed saving. The Canadian organization, Seeds of Diversity, chooses article topics that are accessible to people, such as steps on how to grow tomatoes, and then leads into seed saving. Articles published in Horticulture Magazine by the Safe Seed Initiative working in Massachusetts include the titles: “Will food be pure, will neighbors be mad” and “What a Home gardener needs to know about GM seeds.” The Safe Seed Initiative also notes the importance of giving reporters quotes, of being clever and concise with your words.

Appealing to smaller magazines, newsletters, gardening sections and gourmet magazines is another good way to have information put in front of people, to create a larger awareness of the issues involved in seed saving. The Safe Seed Initiative makes a particular effort to make themselves available to smaller publications seeking material. Bountiful Gardens, who has been interviewed in print and an on the radio, has had articles published in Mother Earth News, Organic Gardening Magazine and the Garden Section of the San Francisco Chronicle. They have also interested gourmet magazines and chefs, have been mentioned in the New York Times as a source for edible soybeans and were cited by Martha Stewart as a source of a certain kind of carrot. In addition, Bountiful Gardens has received publicity from Christian Fundamentalist magazines, home schooling publications and missionaries use their growing methods abroad. The Organic Seed Initiative in Alberta Canada runs an ad in the Western Producer, “the voice of the Canadian farmer,” asking for old seeds and equipment. They also attract attention to their larger work by publishing announcements in the events columns of different publications. Seeds of Diversity, working out of Toronto and Ontario, has found that smaller magazines such as Canadian Gardening and THIS magazine, a source of information on political, social and cultural arts, are happy to publish their articles. Newsletters, too, are pleased to use their content, creating exposure for the organization.

It is also important to “know” the publication that is being pitched to. Seeds of Diversity tailors their articles to match the publication at hand and seeks out the authors that are writing on issues close to seed saving, going directly to them. When dealing with mainstream publications, Seeds of Diversity encourages working with freelance writers and trying to “show them something new.” The Safe Seed Initiative carefully reads the magazines they appeal to, trying to see what the readers want, and tailors to their needs and interests. This organization also cited the importance of the academic world in promoting their work. Requests from institutions to act as a peer reviewer should be taken seriously as a means to further an organization’s message.

Seed saving organizations have also reported success in participating in or using events to attract media attention. The Organic Seed Initiative in Canada publicizes their Bread Festival and then uses the media attention to give pointers on how people can read food labels. The Director of the Safe Seed Initiative in Massachusetts reported his success in connecting with the media through participating in events as a speaker. When he is heard speaking on a given issue, the media pegs him as a source. His participation at the International Forum on Globalization, for example, helped the Safe Seed Initiative to secure seven interviews and a 15-minute speech. Seed saving organizations in India also attracted media attention by participating in the Biodiversity Festivals that take place across the country.

Organizations also spoke of the importance of using “positive” campaigning to attract positive attention. Many seed banks open up their gardens and stores for people to try the seeds and vegetables, creating an automatic interest in where the seeds come from, rather than discouraging attitudes. The Safe Seed Initiative notes the importance of avoiding any sort of lecturing or negative profiling of the opposition.

And finally, seed saving organizations have received positive media attention when they are able to show that their work is having a beneficial effect on communities, when they focus on how a wide range of community members are being given an important role in the preservation and improvement of their communities or when they are able to show that through their seed banks, people in need are able to access a source of growing their own food.

One example of an organization that has combined an empowerment program for women, seed saving and successful outreach to the media is the Deccan Development Society (DDS) in India. DDS trains illiterate low-caste women on how to grow seeds and gives them wages for raising the seed nurseries. As a part of a larger Women’s Self-Help Group also run by DDS, these women are also trained in video production through a program called Learning without Frontiers. This effort is designed to empower women but has also become a vehicle for videotaping traditional methods of farming and seed varieties, ensuring that no one can then patent them and make claims on Indian ancient knowledge. Women are also creating videos designed to show the world how hybrid seeds are being pumped into their farms, making Indian farmers dependent on seed multinationals. The women are now negotiating for monthly slots on major channels to become the first Dalit women's group in the country to report on deprived sections in rural India. The women have also recorded many hours of transmitting material and plan to begin regular broadcast for their own community radio station. This program gives illiterate women farm workers an understanding of the media and the process of communication and they are using this understanding to protect their fields, families and traditions.

At World Hunger Year, our programs work simultaneously to promote the most innovative programs combating hunger and poverty and to make these excellent models available to other organizations, policy makers, the media and the general public. The Spotlight on Seed Saving is an effort to bring attention to these organizations and the many different layers of their work to renew communities, protect seeds, and create new means of accessing food. We invite you to continue to learn about model programs at Reinvesting in America’s Model Programs Website feature and to join the RIA network to connect with other models and organizations in your community, to learn more about how other organizations have developed the programs you would like to start, and to receive customized media advice.