Final report for WPDP24-008
Project Information
Native Seeds/SEARCH requested funds to co-host a two-day conference with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) on seed stewardship in Indigenous communities. We invited Southern Arizona Indigenous agricultural professionals and leaders to the conference to learn about seed collection management, farming with traditional seed varieties, and traditional food enterprises. The conference included presentations by Indigenous farmers and food producers who steward seeds, practice traditional farming, and/or have created successful models of food businesses centered on traditional foods. This workshop empowered Indigenous agricultural professionals to act as conduits of knowledge and resources within their communities, offering technical assistance on seed saving while motivating and supporting the transition to traditional crop production. By strengthening these connections and facilitating these conversations, we aimed to foster resilient, culturally rich, and sustainable food systems in Indigenous communities.
As part of our endeavor, NS/S, in collaboration with SRPMIC, created an educational guidebook. While our previous publications emphasized seed saving, this guidebook specifically addresses establishing and managing seed banks, with a focus on tribal and community-serving organizations. This guidebook is being envisioned and outlined in collaboration with representatives from SRPMIC, our board, and other stakeholders who have expressed a need for this resource. The guidebook includes regional seed bank case studies and seed saving efforts, technical information on seed banking topics (cost, maintenance, energy sources, infrastructure, moisture/humidity, temperature control, building
materials, and recordkeeping), and details on seed distribution methods and policies.
Objective 1: Knowledge Enhancement
Enhance the knowledge of up to 60 participants, including Indigenous agricultural professionals, farm managers, and tribal government leaders in southern Arizona, regarding traditional farming practices, culturally-significant and regionally-adapted seeds, and seed banking and distribution.
Progress towards this objective was measured through post-conference surveys and assessments, evaluating participants' understanding and application of the acquired knowledge.
Objective 2: Awareness Building
Increase awareness among southern Arizona Indigenous agriculturalists about the NS/S seed collection, access procedures for NS/S seeds, and other technical resources provided by the organization. Measurement of progress relied on pre-and post-awareness surveys, assessing the extent of awareness growth among the target audience.
Objective 3: Promotion and Network Growth
Promote the cultivation of arid-adapted and traditional crops while expanding our network of partnerships with southern Arizona Indigenous agricultural professionals and farmers. NS/S will provide agronomic support and facilitate the distribution of traditional seeds within and beyond individual communities. Progress was measured through self-assessments of relationships/collaborations built during the conference.
Objective 4: Capacity Building
Strengthen the capacity of other organizations and institutions to save, store, and share seeds for their respective communities. We achieved this objective through the development of the “Community Seed Banking and Distribution Guidebook”. This guidebook was shared with conference participants and with our community-based partners regionally. We currently send seeds to over 125 school gardens, tribal serving farms, and food access initiatives, many of whom are eager to enhance their seed banking competencies.
Cooperators
Education
Because our audience for this project includes various Indigenous communities in Arizona which have diverse needs and interests around agriculture and seed conservation, we planned a multifaceted project. The three components are:
- a two day conference on seed collection management, farming with traditional seed varieties, and traditional food enterprises
- a printed guidebook on seed banking models and best practices
- an online Story-map of tours and interviews with regional seedbanks
Through these approaches, we expected to enhance knowledge around conservation of traditional seeds, offer a variety of conservation models, and build stronger networks of Indigenous agricultural and conservation professionals through person to person sharing of information and methods.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Enhance the knowledge of up to 60 participants, including Indigenous agriculture professionals, farm managers, and Tribal government leaders in southern Arizona, regarding traditional farming practices, culturally-significant and regionally-adapted seeds, and seed banking and distribution. Progress toward this objective will be measured through post-conference surveys and assessments evaluating participants' understanding and application of the acquired knowledge.
We organized a day and a half long conference, Sharing Our Way, to share and enhance knowledge on these subjects. The conference was coordinated with Christopher Horan, Community Development Coordinator at the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and was held at a hotel and conference center there on February 3 and 4.
Our agenda for the conference included speakers unaffiliated with Native Seeds/SEARCH who are well respected professionals in their fields, including:
- Joshua Toddy of the Hozho Voices of Healing Center spoke on Re-establishing our Indigenous Food system
- Emigdio Ballon, Agricultural Resource Director of the Pueblo of Tesuque Seed Bank spoke on other regional Seed Banking Models
- Chili Yazzie of the ToohBAA Farmer's Co-operative spoke on the work of their co-op and the development of their seed bank
- Gayle Volk of the USDA-ARS spoke on Tribal Secure Seed Storage with the USDA
There was strong interest in the conference and over 50 participants registered.
Re: Objective 1 Knowledge Enhancement:
Evaluations made at the end of each day of the SOW conference revealed the following:
ALL attendees reported increasing their knowledge of seed banking as a result of the conference, with 70% saying that their knowledge increased "a lot". Participants also planned to share knowledge gained with others: at least 24 intended to share with farmers, 18 with other staff, 34 with community members, and 13 planned to share with other community leaders or Tribal council.
Four months after the conference, we followed up with mailed and emailed evaluation forms that asked participants whether they had shared learnings with others. As is typical, the response rate was low, but of the 5 individuals who did respond, 3 reported sharing information with 17 farmers, and 2 reported sharing with 10 non-farmer community leaders. One respondent wrote: "While I have not shared the information I learned from the Conference with farmers or Community leaders, I have shared this information with Community members, friends and colleagues. Several of whom have reached out and acquired seeds and started gardens or changed their approach to growing food and plants in the desert."
Increase awareness among southern Arizona Indigenous agriculturalists about the NS/S seed collection, access procedures for NS/S seeds, and other technical resources provided by the organization. Measurement of progress will rely on pre- and post-awareness surveys, assessing the extent of awareness growth among the target audience.
This objective was also met in large part through the Sharing Our Way conference. Several NS/S staff members introduced and expanded participants' awareness of the NS/S seed collection and organization services. These included:
- Alexandra Zamecnik, NS/S Executive Director
- Helena Sakiestewa Gonzales, NS/S Seed Bank Manager
- Joel Johnson, NS/S Farm Manager
- Sterling Johnson, Community Seed Programs Co-ordinator
In addition, the planned guidebook Seed Banking in the Southwest is now available to increase knowledge and transparency around the methods NS/S uses to manage the seed collection as well as services such as Security Backup Storage, which NS/S offers to Tribal and other seed banks. The guidebook was completed in June and mailed to conference participants and others (see Objective 4 for more information).
The SOW Conference included information about the NS/S seed collection and seed sharing programs, and attendees showed strong interest in participating. After the sessions, 34 attendees said they planned to use at least one of these programs. 20 attendees reported their intention to use the Native American Seed Share program which offers free seed packets to Indigenous households.
Interest was also expressed in the Partner Farmer program (16 attendees), which supplies free seed in exchange for growing out crops and returning part of the harvest, and in Community Seed Grants (14 attendees), which offer larger seed distributions for school and community gardens. Smaller numbers planned to request seed donations (6) or use the Seed Security Backup program (3), which provides secure, black-box seed storage.
Promote the cultivation of arid-adapted and traditional crops while our expanding our network of partnerships with southern Arizona Indigenous agricultural professionals and farmers. NS/S will provide agronomic support and facilitate the distribution of traditional seeds with and beyond individual communities. Progress will be measured by counting new partner farmers and seed access recipients who were introduced to NS/S through the conference or conference participants.
The Sharing Our Way conference was intentionally arranged to incorporate a significant amount of time for networking and knowledge sharing. In addition to the scheduled speakers, many of whom are important Indigenous voices in this arena, the schedule included 2 hours and 45 minutes dedicated to questions, round table discussion and sharing. Lunch breaks allowed even more time for network cultivation. We expected that discussions around traditional and modern farming and seed conservation methods would create fertile ground for knowledge sharing, relationship building, and mutual support, both between participants and between participants and NS/S staff.
Contact information of participants and NS/S staff was shared with other participants (where permission was given) to encourage future networking and collaboration.
Re: Objective 3 Network Building:
Many conference attendees were appreciative of the chance to connect with those from other communities. When asked "How many new relationships from today's session may lead to future collaborations", on day one 28 participants counted 80 or more new relationships, and on day two, 27 people counted 96 or more new relationships that could be built upon. This is an average of about 3 new collaborations per beneficiary. Comments on this included:
"The networking / relationship building has been the most impactful."
"Many - its great to put faces to the names I've heard many times before."
"The most important insights come from one-on-one/group conversations"
"Many! Thank you for making a place for us to gather and join energy."
"Most informative and urgent to be together"
These and many other responses clarified the participants' need for more venues for Tribal agricultural professionals and related leaders to network and learn how those in other communities are meeting demands for food security, agricultural productivity and seed conservation. NS/S is actively planning how we can continue to offer more opportunities to build strong and productive networks in our region.
Strengthen the capacity of other organizations and institutions to save, store, and share seeds for their respective communities. We will achieve this objective through the development of the "Community Seed Banking and Distribution Guidebook". This guidebook will be shared with conference participants and with our community-based partners regionally. We currently send seeds to over 125 school gardens, tribal serving farms, and food access initiatives, many of whom are eager to enhance their seed banking competencies.
Development of the guidebook "Seed Banking in the Southwest" began in early September 2024 and was finished in June. Rather than hiring a consultant to produce this guidebook as originally planned, we chose to make use of our in-house expertise and use NS/S staff members to produce the content. We also decided to make the print guidebook content more accessible by producing a companion storymap online, which offers interviews, additional images and videos that explore and show different models of successful seed banking currently underway in the Southwest.
To that end, NS/S staff conducted in person interviews and photo/filming sessions with three regional seed banks: Pueblo of Tesuque Seed Bank in Tesuque, New Mexico, Pojoaque Seed Bank of Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute at Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, and Borderlands Restoration Network seed bank in Patagonia, Arizona. These seed banks, along with NS/S, model different methods and approaches that we expected to be informative and inspiring to viewers from different communities who have differing capacities and needs for seed banking.
We made arrangements with two consultants, one to produce the layout of the guidebook and the other to produce the story-map. Both were completed and available by the end of June. Both were shared with conference participants and with other NS/S community partners, and the story-map is available to the public on the NS/S website.
The guidebook, Seed Banking in the Southwest: A Guide for Community and Tribal Seed Banks, was completed in June. It is a 64 page spiral-bound book with color photos that covers technical principals for saving high quality seed and keeping seed healthy in storage. Because different Tribes have varying levels of resources and different seed banking needs, the guidebook also profiles 4 existing regional seed banks (including NS/S) that offer different organizational and physical models for seed banking on a Tribal and community level.
In addition, the guidebook includes a resource list with links to online resources and tools, and an appendix with useful charts and data collection sheets. We mailed the guidebook at no charge to 54 people who attended either the February SOW conference or a May Seed Banking workshop we held in collaboration with the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (not funded by WSARE). We will continue to share this book with our Tribal contacts and others who are interested in seed banking in the months ahead, and it is also available for sale on our website for under $15. We expect it to circulate widely among interested audiences, thus greatly extending the impact of this grant well into the future.
The interactive online story-map, which is posted with other resources on our website, gives summary information from the guidebook and also features extended interviews with the profiled seed banks. While it doesn't provide the full level of detail found in the book, it highlights the main concepts of seed storage, and offers many examples. The story map also links to a free PDF download of the complete guidebook for those who prefer not to purchase a copy.
Between its launch in late May and today in late August, the story-map has been viewed 368 times. We have also shared the video interviews with the profiled seed banks on our YouTube channel. One video, uploaded June 30, has already received more than 460 views, and another, uploaded August 21, nearly 250 views. This reflects great interest in the subject matter and the interviews, as we've made little effort so far to promote these materials. We'll start promotion in early September.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
We completed all three planned objectives: conducting a conference on seed banking, producing a guidebook on seed banking and an accompanying online story-map.
The one and a half day conference entitled Sharing Our Way: Tribal Seed Banking and Seed Conservation was held on February 3 & 4, 2025 at the Salt River Marriott and co-sponsored by Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. 57 people registered (not counting NS/S staff); 34 people attended on day 1 and 42 people on day 2, including some not pre-registered. The majority of attendees were farmers and/or ag educators (15), Tribal leaders and staff (11) or Tribal non-profit staff (10). Conference speakers included NS/S staff members, Emigdio Ballon of the Tesuque Pueblo Gailey Morgan Seed Sanctuary, Gayle Volk of the USDA/ARS, Joshua Toddy of the Hozho Center, Chili Yazzie of the ToohBAA Farmer's Co-operative and others. An additional USDA/NRCS staff member was scheduled but unable to attend. Topics covered included best practices for seed regeneration, harvest, cleaning, and storage; NS/S seed sharing programs; models of seed growing and seed saving from several local Indigenous communities and projects; and access to the USDA ARS seed banks and Tribal Seed Storage options at USDA.
The guidebook, Seed Banking in the Southwest: A Guide for Community and Tribal Seed Banks, was completed in June. It is a 64 page spiral-bound book with color photos that covers technical principals for saving high quality seed and keeping seed healthy in storage. Because different Tribes have varying levels of resources and different seed banking needs, the guidebook also profiles 4 existing regional seed banks (including NS/S) that offer different organizational and physical models for seed banking on a Tribal and community level.
In addition, the guidebook includes a resource list with links to online resources and tools, and an appendix with useful charts and data collection sheets. We mailed the guidebook at no charge to 54 people who attended either the February SOW conference or a May Seed Banking workshop we held in collaboration with the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (not funded by WSARE). We will continue to share this book with our other Tribal contacts who are interested in seed banking in the months ahead, and it is also available for sale on our website for under $15. We expect it to circulate widely among interested audiences, thus greatly extending the impact of this grant well into the future.
The interactive online story-map which is posted with other resources on our website gives summary information from the guidebook and also features extended interviews with the profiled seed banks. While it doesn't provide the full level of detail found in the book, it highlights the main concepts of seed storage, and offers many examples. The story map also links to a free PDF download of the complete guidebook for those who prefer not to purchase a copy.
Between its launch in late May and today in late August, the story-map has been viewed 368 times. We have also shared the video interviews with the profiled seed banks on our YouTube channel. One video, uploaded June 30, has already received more than 460 views, and another, uploaded August 21, nearly 250 views. This reflects great interest in the subject matter, as we've not made any effort yet to promote these materials. We'll start promotion in early September.
Here are selected quotes from evaluation forms, either during the conference or after:
"Thank you! All the presenters were great! Rich life, rich culture. This was truly a pleasure. I will definitely follow up on all resources provided, take some of this knowledge and put it to use in our garden/(unknown word) and I'm looking forward to connecting with the people I made a connection with."
"Thank you for facilitating this experience. It was very educational and insightful. The range of presenters ages and experience provided a diverse representation of the scope, impact, and importance of seed work. I appreciated hearing and learning from each one."
"real life examples on hoe various indigenous communities have established farming & Indigenous agricultural initiatives and real examples on best practices for seed saving and distribution."
"Be consistent in record keeping. It yields the consistent/reliable harvest."
"Proper seed processing & storage. How important it is to maintain genetics sp the seeds that are stored are useful & compatible in the regions & conditions of our landscapes."
"We all have common issues and I believe common solutions. Lots of good activities going on in different regions"
"When is the next conference?! :)"
"the Sharing Our Way conference provided impetus in the development of our own community Seed Bank"
Because this was a reimbursable grant, the funding freeze and uncertainty around continuation led us to pause certain activities. As a result, our follow-up and evaluation of Conference outcomes were less robust than originally planned, and we did not fully spend out the grant funds. We recognize these circumstances were outside of SARE’s control, but note that more stable funding conditions in the future would help ensure timely evaluation, full implementation of planned activities, and complete expenditure of awarded funds.