Saving our Seed: A program to train farmers

Saving our Seed: A program to train farmers

Summary

Before the beginning of this grant, the lack of availability of certified organic and open pollinated heirloom varieties that are adapted to southeastern conditions was negatively impacting the growth of organic agriculture in the Southeastern U.S. Under the umbrella of the grant, Southeastern organic farming organizations, Crop Improvement Associations, Foundation Seed Producers, small seed companies, and farmers have worked together to coordinate research and educational projects to address the issue of the availability of regionally adapted, open pollinated, certified organic seed. We have achieved this success by surveying farmers to identify their seed needs, researching and developing seed production management plans, conducting seed production trainings for farmers and Extension Agents, stimulating on-farm production of organic seed, and examining the infrastructure needed to develop proper harvest, cleaning, storage, and distribution systems. Much of the immediate benefit of the project’s success is being realized by organic farmers in the southeast, who are able to diversify their income potential by producing organic seed. This adds stability to local farms, as seeds tend to be of high quality in years of drought when other crops traditionally fail. Also, farmers are beginning to find it easier to enter the growing organic market due to increased availability of organic and regionally adapted varieties. As these farmers succeed, the environmental impact of the project will be that more farmers will shift their practices to organic, which will reduce the pesticide and nutrient contamination of our soil, water, air, and food. Socially, the project will strengthen our rural communities by fostering locally owned business and employment opportunities.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Our main objective has been to increase the availability of regionally produced and adapted, certified organic, open pollinated seed. Achieving this objective has involved the following steps:
1. Surveying farmers on what seed crops they think are in greatest need.
2. Based on survey results, identifying specific crops and potential farmer participants.
3. Researching current available information on organic/open pollinated seed production and identifying obstacles or missing information.
4. Developing draft seed production management plans for the organic and open pollinated seed varieties within the identified crops.
5. Developing and conducting Seed Production workshops.
6. Working with farmers to plant crops and record data for improving seed production management plans.
7. Developing an infrastructure team to evaluate issues related to seed harvest, cleaning, storage, and distribution.
8. Developing strategies for addressing issues related to seed harvest, cleaning, testing, storage, and distribution

Accomplishments/Milestones

We received 133 returns from our 2004 surveying. 97 (73%) of them were from the 4 state region covered by the grant. 31 (23%) were either certified organic farms or farms that were once certified. From these surveys, we identified beans, cover crops, and tomatoes as the three types of organic seed most needed by growers in this region.

We published highly detailed grower guides for tomato and bean seeds, along with an isolation distance guide and a seed processing and storage guide. All of these are freely available on our website, www.savingourseed.org. We are still in the process of writing the Cover Crop Seed Guide. Thus far we have handed out 450 paper copies of the Tomato Seed Guide, the Bean Seed Guide, and the Isolation Distance Guide. We have handed out 380 paper copies of the Seed Processing and Storage Guide. In addition, we have often put the seed saving guides in .pdf format on compact disc. We have handed out 150 cd’s of The Tomato, Bean, and Isolation Guides and another 420 copies of all four guides together. From our website, the Tomato guide was downloaded 81 times, the Seed Processing and Storage guide was downloaded 57 times, the Isolation Distance Guide was downloaded 86 times, and the Bean Seed Guide was downloaded 42 times. We have had difficulty compiling all of the necessary information for the cover crop seed guide and thus we are still working on it.

From our 2005 surveying, we received 127 returns. 106 (83%) of them were from the four state region. Of these 53 (42%) were either certified organic farms or farms that were once certified. From these, we determined that the three biggest organic seed needs among the organic growers in the four state region are peppers, squash (both summer and winter), and brassicas (primarily broccoli, cabbage, and collards).

We are in the process of writing the organic brassica and pepper seed production guides and expect to start the organic squash seed production guide shortly.

In February 2004, we held seed production workshops in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. These were primarily geared towards assisting farmers in raising seed from a planning/management perspective. There were 31 people at the GA workshop, 43 at the North Carolina workshop, and 49 at the Virginia workshop. The evaluations from these events were very positive.

In July 2004, we held workshops in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. These workshops were geared to provide growers with a hands-on lesson in seed saving and processing techniques. There were 31 attendants in GA, 35 in NC, and 41 in VA. The evaluations from these workshops were generally positive, but they stressed a need for a more multi-media based presentation. Also, many stressed the desire not to go out to the field in the heat of the day. From these, we have decided that future summer field day workshops should startle dinner instead of lunch, with the outdoor portion occurring after dinner.

In October 2004, we held a 2 day seed testing workshop in Virginia. 41 People attended this workshop. We drove a van from Georgia northward to the workshop acting as a bus for growers in southern states that otherwise could not have afforded to attend. In this van, we carried growers from outside Athens GA, Akin SC, Asheboro NC, Charlotte, NC, and Greensboro, NC.

In February 2005, we again held farm planning workshops in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. There were 34 people at the Georgia workshop, 51 people attended the North Carolina workshop, and 18 people attended the Virginia workshop. Attendance at the Virginia workshop was stifled by a four inch snowfall the night before; there were 38 people signed up for the event. Based on the feedback from the prior July workshops, we incorporated Power Point presentations into the workshops. The evaluations were very positive,

In March 2005, we held a workshop in Tallahassee, FL in conjunction Dr. Jennifer Taylor, Ph.D. of Florida A&M University, teaching whole farm planning for organic seed production that was attended by fourteen people. The evaluations were very positive.

In 2004, we had fifteen people growing Southern Seed Legacy crops for seed and fourteen people growing Southern Exposure Seed Exchange crops for seed under the project. The Southern Seed Legacy project had a positive result from eight participants. There were eleven successful seed returns from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange seed projects. Of these, five were Certified Organic.

Currently, there are two growers raising certified organic winter rye seed. With respect to winter rye, there is a lot of available organic seed that is of varieties that are not well suited to the southeast’s piedmont and costal plains. The growers mentioned are raising the Wren’s Abruzzi variety, an heirloom variety developed in Georgia specifically to perform well in these regions as a powerful alleleopath and prolific biomass producer.

In November 2004, we had an extended meeting of all of the partners in the grant where we evaluated the progress and discussed ways we could improve our strategy in 2005. At this meeting, we decided that the project would be better served by spending 2005 more focused on certified organic seed production. As a result of this planning, we expect to have at least 15 organic growers raising seeds with the project this year and about 5 non-certified organic growers.

In January, we launched the Certified Organic Seed Sourcing Service to help growers find the certified organic seeds that are available and also provide them with documentation when no seeds are available that meets their needs. At this point, we have assisted 52 organic growers in this way. This service has been extremely helpful to these growers, as the lack of a centralized knowledgebase about organic seed availability had previously left them with a large job of collecting and cross referencing organic seed availability information that was being duplicated by each grower. Where this service was not initially part of the project, we applied to have it added. It was approved in mid January.

We have formed an infrastructure committee team to evaluate issues related to seed harvesting, cleaning, storage, and distribution. In November 2004, the committee met and identified some of the necessary physical tools that the region will need to meet the seed needs of organic growers in the coming years. We have found several entrepreneurs in the area that are excited about working their way into addressing these needs by restoring old equipment from conventional operations and using it for certified organic seed processing and handling.

The project is significantly under budget. At the current rate of spending, funding would run out in May of 2006, but the project is scheduled to end on December 31st, 2005. We have spent more money than we expected on materials and supplies. We have spent only $71,482.31 on salaries and wages after 16 months while $160,000 was budgeted for the line item through the 27 months of the project.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

We believe that the project is having a positive impact on the availability of organic seeds that are selected to do well in the southeast, as well as supported the building of a network of organic growers that have the knowledge they need to diversify their income with seed production. Furthermore, organic seed processors and dealers in the region are growing to meet the needs of the region.