Final report for EDS21-30
Project Information
We will create an online course to promote seed-saving among Southeastern farmers. The course will utilize high production value videos and social-media tools to increase farmer engagement and build a community of seed savers with a focus on Southeastern climate and economy. We will publish content across many social media channels as individual members of the Southeast Seed Network, a voluntarily coordinated association of farmers and researchers across the Southeast.
Our course curriculum will cover seed-selection techniques for preserving and developing regionally adapted cultivars. Videos will take an explicit systems perspective, noting that the same ecological forces which entail that diverse gene pools create more resilient populations also entail that distributed networks of seed growers create a more resilient food system. The course will highlight both the sustainability benefits and economic opportunities associated with seed-saving.
Educational outcomes depend as much on the quality of the learning environment as the quality of the curriculum, so we will put emphasis on creating farmer to farmer relationships. We will create a digital classroom across multiple online platforms for farmers to gather and exchange techniques. Ultimately, making our seed systems more sustainable isn’t about developing a certain technique or variety, it’s about building a community of farmers.
While the course will be designed by the Utopian Seed Project, we will rely on close collaboration with many Southeastern seed institutions. The Organic Seed Alliance will assist in curriculum development and distribution. Common Wealth Seed Growers will provide expertise on breeding and propagation. We will work with regionally integrated seed growers for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Sow True Seed, and other Southeastern seed projects (42 tab 1). We will partner with several Southeastern farming organizations to distribute our content to an audience of well over 100,000 growers (42 tab 2).
The most important metric of success for the project will not be the raw number of growers reached digitally, but the number of farmers our curriculum motivates to become active members of the Southeast seed network. Every step of the project features opportunities for farmer feedback and collaboration. Our curriculum will be optimized for digital distribution to reach a large audience, but also optimized for engagement, so that the ultimate outcome of our educational work is farmers talking to one another. Our content will serve as a jumping off point for the deeper kind of peer to peer self motivated learning required to grow and maintain a truly sustainable seed network.
- Use social media tools to create a learning community of farmers that facilitates peer-to-peer interaction and the growth of local seed enterprises.
- Create effective seed saving video tutorials for major Southeastern crops, covering cultivation methods from planting to harvest and seed storage.
- Promote farmer adoption of seed selection methods to produce cultivars adapted to the Southeast.
- Contextualize seed-saving as an ecosystem service essential for a sustainable food system in our social networking and curriculum.
- Promote equity in Southeastern seed systems. Equity entails greater representation for marginalized Southeastern farmers, free and open distribution of genetic material, and easy access to agricultural knowledge.
Cooperators
Education
The core of our work is represented in an SE Seed Video series, which is hosted on YouTube as a watchable and shareable playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu3VWSvdpdWovzWJ-S-T8bLPzJQUpxkBn The aim of these videos was to interview a wide range of people across the Southeast so we could showcase the work and the people behind it. The videos are intended to be educational, but also inspiring for new seed growers.
We have also created a webpage to host the videos and offer more information and resources (people can also subscribe to the SE Seed Network as we continue to build community): http://seseed.org/se-seed-video-series/
Through social media, we have also been tagging short snippets of video around seed education and equipment: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/seseedvideo/
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Over the last year the videos have been used at various agricultural conference and events as part of presentations and learning tools. Note: the open source nature of these videos means that it is possible (likely) that they have been used without our knowledge. For example, I recently learned that both Guidlford College and Warren Wilson College had used these videos as part of their agroecology classes.
Here are the events where we showcased the videos as part of the specific educational programing connected to the grantt:
| Event | Location | Attendees | Outreach |
| Student Organic Seed Symposium | Morgantown WV | 75 |
We showed the video: How to Save Collards and followed with a Q&A presentation with Ira Wallace
|
| Student Organic Seed Symposium | Morgantown WV | 75 |
We showed the video: How to Save Southern Peas and followed with a Q&A presentation with Michael Carter
|
| Student Organic Seed Symposium | Morgantown WV | 75 |
We showed the video: How to Save Corn and followed with a Q&A presentation with Amyrose Foll
|
| Student Organic Seed Symposium | Morgantown WV | 75 |
We showed the video: How to Save Southern Peas and followed with a Q&A presentation with Michael Carter
|
| Virginia Association of Biological Farmers Conference | Roanoke VA | 50 |
We hosted a seed focused movie evening and played our Why Seed Saving is Important Video
|
| Virginia Association of Biological Farmers Conference | Roanoke VA | 15 |
Ira Wallace and Chris Smith taught a half day workshop on SE Seed Growing and played How to Save Collards as part of their presentation
|
| Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Ag Conference | Durham NC | 50 |
We showed the video: How to Save Collards and followed with a Q&A presentation with Ira Wallace
|
| Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Ag Conference | Durham NC | 50 |
We showed the video: How to Save Southern Peas and followed with a Q&A presentation with Bonnetta Adeeb
|
| Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Ag Conference | Durham NC | 50 |
We showed the video: How to Save Corn and followed with a Q&A presentation with Amyrose Foll
|
| Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Ag Conference | Durham NC | 50 |
We showed the video: How to Save Okra and followed with a Q&A presentation with Chris Smith
|
| Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Ag Conference | Durham NC | 50 |
We Showed the video: How to Propagate Sweet Potatoes and followed with a Q&A presentation with Jamie Davis
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| Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Sustainable Ag Conference | Durham NC | 50 |
We Showed the video: How to Save Squash and followed with a Q&A presentation with Meghan-Allen Lazaro
|
| Ujamaa Spring Convening | Berea KY | 50 |
Collard Seed Saving footage was used in a presentation on operating a seed hub
|
| Organic Growers School Spring Conference | Asheville NC | 40 |
Chris Smith taught a class on seed production and used the video How to Save Seeds from Six Crops
|
| Organic Growers School Spring Conference | Asheville NC | 40 |
Chris Smith taught a class on seed production and used the video How to Save Seeds from Six Crops
|
The primary focus of the videos was online reach, unlike an in person event, this medium of outreach has the potential to keep growing because the digital resource is available in perpetuity. Below are the social metrics over the last year, accurate until 5-10-23:
| Video | YouTube Impressions | ||
| SE Seed Video Trailer | 1100 | 942 | 2680 |
| How to Save Seed from Six Crops | 1600 | 130 | |
| How to Save Southern Peas | 1600 | ||
| How to Save Squash | 2800 | ||
| How to Save Corn | 2500 | ||
| How to Save Okra | 2000 | ||
| How to Save Collards | 1700 | ||
| How to Propogate Sweet Potatoes | 5000 | ||
| Why Seed Saving Matters | 785 | ||
| TOTAL | 19085 |
Note: we have not uploaded all the videos to Facebook and Instagram, but intend to do so over the course of the next year. The primary resource for sharing has been YouTube because of the ability to embed the videos into webpages, as can be seen here: http://seseed.org/se-seed-video-series/
We have built interest and engagement on Instagram with short video clips and photographs. We have used the #seseed 37 times and the #seseedvideo 22 times. Collectively the SESeedVideo hashtag has received 48,888 views (as of 5-10-23). As we continue in our own seed work and connecting with other SE Seed Growers, we will continue to build a collection of SE specific seed posts using these hashtags.
We have also worked with a large range of Southeast Seed connected partners to amplify our reach. The following organizations signed on as media partners and committed to sharing the videos through their eNews and Social Media channels:
| Community Partners |
| Sow True Seed |
| Southern Exposure Seed Exchange |
| Southeastern African American Farmers' Organic Network |
| Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds |
| Two Seeds in a Pod |
| Organic Seed Alliance |
| Commonwealth Seed Growers |
| Organic Growers School |
| Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance |
| Carolina Farm Stewardship Association |
| Virgina Association for Biological Farming |
| Truelove Seeds |
| Experimental Farm Network |
| Working Food |
Project Outcomes
Regional seed growing is an important part of sustainable agriculture. Crops and varieties that are regionally adapted are likely to better serve the needs of regional farmers without excessive externalized inputs. In the SE there is very little regional seed growing being done by farmers and most seed is sourced outside of the region. As the climate continues to destabilize, resilient and regional seeds will be an essential tool for sustainable farming and food security. However, there is a lack of awareness around the need for SE seed and there are not good networks, information or support systems for aspiring SE seed growers. This SE Seed Video project attempting to uplift a wide range of voices across the Southeast who are engaged in seed work and to show some examples of seed growing, harvesting and cleaning. The series also explored deeper themes of seed ethics, regional adaptation and seed industry control. The intention was to inspire and educate more farmers to consider seed growing as part of their farm business, but we recognize that the information and education is only the first step to encouraging and recruiting more seed growers.
Economic - it is possible to make money from growing seeds (it is also possible to save money by not purchasing seed, requiring lower inputs, and increasing production through regional adaptation). However the full economics of seed growing are a little unclear in the Southeast and further research is required in this area.
Environmental - there is a strong argument that regionally adapted seed can perform in the region with less need for environmental modification (which often cause ecosystem harm i.e. fertilizer runoff and pesticides).
Social - control over ones seed is because an important conversation. Proprietary seed lines get dropped from catalogs, supply chain distributions are a real threat, and high seed prices are a common complaint. In addition there is a growing understanding around the important of connection with regional and cultural varieties that seed growing allows a farmer to benefit from.
The library of SE Seed Videos will continue to educate and inspire farmers and a growing collection of short social media videos will build on the momentum of open-source seed focused resources. One specific outcome from this project, which shifts from online education to real world action, has been the formation of a WNC Seed Growers Collective, which received a small CERES Foundation grant to cover some administrative costs and equipment to launch the collective. The collective is WNC focused (with about 20-30 people interested and actively participating), but there are already interested farmers from other areas of NC, Eastern TN and Upstate NC, which speaks to the need of more community and support in SE seed growing.
It is our opinion that developing regional seed hubs to directly support farmers is the next important and logical step. We have already begun this work with the WNC Seed Growers Collective, but are looking to expand this work so that we can have regionally grown seed available to regional farmers in a way that supports both seed growers and farmers economically and environmentally.