Progress report for WPDP24-008
Project Information
Native Seeds/SEARCH is requesting funds to co-host a two-day conference with the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) on seed stewardship in Indigenous communities. We will invite 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 will include 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 will empower 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 aim to foster resilient, culturally rich, and sustainable food systems in Indigenous communities.
As part of our endeavor, NS/S, in collaboration with SRPMIC, will create an educational guidebook with the assistance of hired contractors. While our previous publications emphasized seed saving, this guidebook will specifically address 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 will include 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 will be 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 will rely 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 will be measured by counting new partner farmers and seed access recipients who were introduced to NS/S through the conference or conference participants.
Objective 4: Capacity Building
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.
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 have 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 Storymap of tours and interviews with regional seedbanks
Through these approaches, we expect 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 have 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 will be held at a hotel and conference center there on February 3 and 4.
Our agenda for the conference includes speakers unaffiliated with Native Seeds/SEARCH who are well respected professionals in their fields, including:
- Gilbert Two Two of the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service will speak on Traditional Crops and Climate Smart Agriculture
- Joshua Toddy of the Hozho Voices of Healing Center will speak on Re-establishing our Indigenous Food system
- Emigdio Ballon, Agricultural Resource Director of the Pueblo of Tesuque Seed Bank will speak on other regional Seed Banking Models
- Gayle Volk of the USDA-ARS will speak on Tribal Secure Seed Storage with the USDA
There has been strong interest in the conference and over 50 participants have registered to date. This event is taking place February 3rd and 4th, 2025 so we will report out on outcomes in the next period.
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 will also be met in large part through the Sharing Our Way conference. Several NS/S staff members will introduce and expand participants' awareness of the NS/S seed collection and organization services. These include:
- 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
Development of evaluation tools to assess increased awareness is underway and include an assessment at the beginning of the conference, one on the 2md day and final evaluation.
In addition, the planned guidebook Seed Banking in the Southwest will 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. Writing of the guidebook is well underway and we expect to distribute it in March or April 2025, after the conference (see Objective 4 for more information).
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 has intentionally been 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 includes 2 hours and 45 minutes dedicated to questions, round table discussion and sharing. Lunch breaks will allow even more time for network cultivation. We expect that discussions around traditional and modern farming and seed conservation methods will 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 will be shared with other participants (where permission is given) to encourage future networking and collaboration.
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 and is well underway, with approximately 11,500 words written. 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 have also decided to make the print guidebook content more accessible by producing a companion storymap online, which will offer 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 have 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 expect will be informative and inspiring to viewers from different communities who will have differing capacities and needs for seedbanking.
We have made arrangements with two consultants, one to produce the layout of the guidebook and the other to produce the storymap. We expect both to be completed and available by the end of April. Both will be shared with conference participants and with other NS/S community partners, and the Storymap will be available to the public on the NS/S website.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Project Outcomes
As our conference has not yet taken place, outcomes so far are limited to working collaborations developed through our visits to neighboring seed banks in the region. Two of these, Pueblo of Tesuque Seed Bank, and Borderlands Restoration Network seedbank, are ongoing partners with whom we have worked previously on a variety of projects. With Pojoaque Seed Bank at Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, we have had only rare contacts in the past ten years, and so the meetings and interviews conducted there were effective in establishing a working relationship.