Restoring Our Seed

Did you ever wonder how generations of farmers without advanced degrees not only produced their own seed, but developed the food-crops that we eat today? Until a few hundred years ago seed production was an integral part of farming. Although we have created a vital organic movement, we have almost forgotten an essential aspect. Seeds are too important to be left in the hands of the giant trans-national corporations.

A group of New England farmers and small seed companies has come together to reclaim our seed heritage. We are pleased to announce that SARE has funded Restoring Our Seed to strengthen our local seed network and to provide farmers andgardeners with knowledge for skilled organic seed production.

Our Seed School program will cover the basic seasonal aspects of organic seed crop production: a winter seminar on whole farm seed cropping systems, summer field days at demonstration farms on selecting for local adaptability and disease resistance, and a fall seed harvesting and cleaning workshop. The Seed School will address new marketing opportunities for farm-produced certified organic seed stimulated by the new organic rule. Learn ways that growing seed can diversify your farm and increase your profits.

The Seed School will be conducted in Maine, 2002-3, Vermont, 2003-4, and Massachusetts, 2004-5.

Seed School workshops will be presented by:

• Dr. John Navazio, plant breeder for crop improvement in organic systems,
• Frank Morton, breeder of dozens of extraordinary edible landscape and salad varieties.
• Dr. Raoul Robinson, author of Return to Resistance, trainer with FAO in farmer-based breeding for resistance to local pests and disease. See: www.idrc.ca/books/reports/1997/17-01e.html, and www.sentex.net/~raoulrob
• Dr. Mark Hutton…
• Tom Stearns. High Mowing Seed, Wolcott, Vermont, regional expert in seed harvesting, cleaning and conditioning
• Rowen White
• Judy Dow
• Will Bonsall
• CR Lawn

Join us in fascinating workshops that cover:

• how to integrate growing seed into your existing farm production,
• how to restore native habitats to bring in beneficial insects and pollinators,
• proper spacing, isolation distances, and populations for robust seed crops,
• how to detect off-types and diseased plants,
• how to rogue and select to improve varieties for local adaptation,
• when to harvest, and how efficiently to clean and store your seeds,
• farmer-research projects to select for increasing plant yield, cold-hardiness and disease resistance, and the role of native habitats,
• community education and youth projects on the power of saving and growing seed.

Our website www.growseed.net will post details and dates of activities and Seed School workshops with contributions of New England's master seed growers. We invite your contributions, articles, stories, photos and ideas how Restoring Our Seed can work for you.

Winter Seminar:

This seminar will incorporate aspects of John's "Fundamentals of Crop Improvement in Organic Agriculture" and Frank's presentations on "Whole Farm Systems for Crop Production" - to provide seed growers with basic knowledge and skills for:

- organic seed production, and
- selection and breeding to adapt crops for sustainable farming in New England.

A key aspect of a truly sustainable, bioregional agriculture is to identify and improve suitable crop varieties through farmer selection of seed stocks. These farmer-bred varieties will then excel under the environmental conditions and cultural techniques used by the farmers of that bioregion. This is in sharp contrast to our current reliance on crop varieties bred under chemically intensive conventional farm operations.

Workshops taught by John Navazio will cover :

- The theory and practice of selection and maintenance of crop varieties placing emphasis on selection techniques that increase the genetic diversity and elasticity of open-pollinated vegetables, specific breeding methods to improve the plant's ability to withstand disease and insect attack, as well as heat, drought, and cold stress, strategies to increase the crop's genetic ability to grow vigorously and retrieve nutrients under cold soil conditions, to retrieve water under dry conditions, and to out-compete weeds during crucial early growth.

- The differences between selection criteria for self-pollinated crops with examples of roguing techniques for specific crops in these different reproductive classes

- Strategies for the selection of annual versus biennial crop plants.

- Types of selection that can be performed during the vegetative versus reproductive phases of a plant's development with emphasis on the necessity for improving crops for their reproductive health, fecundity and seed yielding ability.

- Philosophical concerns of increasing the genetic elasticity of our crop germplasm, especially as it relates to the evolution of our crops.

- how selecting for horizontal resistance can protect plants from diseases and insects, and how to best harness it on your farm.

- Group discussions about how farmers decide which traits are important to improve and which diseases and pests farmers should select against, and models we can use to build farmer-based breeding partnerships in our area.

WINTER SEMINAR

Growing Seed for Organic Agriculture

Day One

8:00 ˆ 8:30 Overview and philosophy of Growing Organic Seed
8:30 ˆ 10:00 Participatory Farmer Breeding
10:00 ˆ 10:30 Break
10:30 ˆ 12:00 Reproductive biology basics
12:00 ˆ 1:00 Lunch
1:00 ˆ 3:00 "Hands on" spinach selection in the field
3:30 ˆ 5:00 Self-pollinated crops vs. cross-pollinated crops
5:00 ˆ 7:00 Dinner
7:30 ˆ 9:30 Slide show; The Power of Selection

Day Two

8:00 ˆ 8:30 Review and questions
8:30 ˆ 10:00 ISelf-pollinated species
10:00 ˆ 10:30 Break
10:30 ˆ 12:00 Cross-pollinated species
12:00 ˆ 1:00 Lunch
1:00 ˆ 3:00 "Hands on" field evaluation and selection
3:30 ˆ 5:00 Selection for resilient populations
5:00 ˆ 7:00 Dinner
7:30 ˆ 9:30 Slide show; Horizontal resistance to diseases

Day Three

8:00 ˆ 8:30 Review and questions
8:30 ˆ 10:00 Revitalizing old varieties vs. new variety development
10:00 ˆ 10:30 Break
10:30 ˆ 12:00 Developing a Farmer-based breeding program
12:00 ˆ 1:00 Lunch
1:00 ˆ 3:00 Discussion - how we proceed from here!

Suggested Background Reading:
While this class has no prerequisites, we encourage reading a packet prepared to help participants build a solid foundation in farmer-based breeding.

Readings cover:

- participatory farmer-based breeding,
- pollinator ecology and cropping systems integrating ' wild gardens'
- indigenous knowledge and Native American systems,
- the power of selection,
- horizontal disease and insect resistance,
- what is reproductive fitness, random mating,
- the dynamic relationship between plants, their environment and farmers,
- understanding the nature of interitance and differences in selection of self-pollinating and cross-pollinating plants.

Click Here for the Reading List

SUMMER - Field Days in Selection and Disease Prevention
The art and science of field selection for local adaptability and disease resistance: roguing, population genetics, disease identification and biocontrols and general management to harvest.

FALL - Seed Harvest, Cleaning and Conditioning Seed harvesting, cleaning, conditioning, processing and storage techniques, germination and seedling testing, organic treatments for seed-borne disease, strategies to combine use of vegetables with sale of their seed.

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Why would farmers want to grow and improve seed?

Although farmer-based crop improvement programs have been conducted with small farmers world-wide, minimal work has been done in the United States. The large U.S seed companies produce vegetable traits adapted to conventional high-input farming systems and large- scale food systems, such as durability for long-distance shipping. In contrast, participatory crop development addresses the concerns of small farmers and local community food systems.

‘One problem with conventional seed production is the tendency to focus on "broad adaptability"; the capacity of a plant to produce a high average yield over a range of growing environments and years. Unfortunately, genetic material that produces high yields in one growing zone, but poor yields in another, tends to be quickly eliminated from the breeder's gene pool. Yet, this may be exactly what small farmers in some areas need. Ease of harvest and storage, taste and cooking qualities, early maturity, and suitability to local climatic constraints are just a few of the dozens of plant traits of interest to small-scale farmers.’ www.idrc.ca/reports/read_article_english.cfm?article_num=490

Seed Stewards Education Program

Seed-saving, once an essential skill passed from generation to generation by farmers and gardeners, is almost a lost art, as is the farming heritage out of which it arose. By growing and saving seeds, each person can become a link to restore food and farming traditions in their own community. The Seed Stewards educational program involves young people in action-projects torestore wild habitats, grow seed, and breed vegetable varieties to nourish asustainable food system.