Seed Rematriation Using a Participatory Conservation Model

View the project final report

Commodities

• Agronomic: corn, sunflower
• Fruits: melons
• Vegetables: beans, Squash, Jerusalem artichoke

Practices

• Crop Production: cover crops, high tunnels or hoop houses, intercropping, no-till, organic fertilizers, seed saving
• Education and Training: farmer to farmer, mentoring, networking, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research
• Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity
• Production Systems: holistic management, organic agriculture
• Soil Management: organic matter
• Sustainable Communities: community development, leadership development, local and regional food systems, partnerships, quality of life, urban agriculture

Seed Savers Exchange (IA) has partnered with eight Native farmers at eight distinct sites in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to regenerate regional varieties from seed we researched and believed to have Indigenous origins. This project grew out of the successes and lessons learned from the 2020 partnership funded by NC-SARE, and the acknowledgement that more farmers sharing knowledge, growing varieties, and saving seeds at more sites builds greater resilience against weather and other factors that may impact the growing season. In the instance where multiple partners were growing the same variety, more partner sites also helped identify varietal performance across a greater geographic area and under different environmental conditions (within short northern midwest growing seasons). Combining in-field observation with the strong knowledge-sharing and relationship building that has occurred over the course of this project has already helped realize success toward a project goal to strengthen and sustain food sovereignty and climate adaptability in Indigenous communities.

The partners are geographically diverse and we anticipated that COVID-19 might continue to present challenges. To address these factors, we are sharing the knowledge and experiences of project partners through a series of four virtual, educational webinars that are highlighting our partners, the varieties they chose, and their approaches to Indigenous agriculture, seedkeeping, and integration of land/habitat conservation for a broad audience of growers, farmers, and others. One of the 2020 seed rematriation partners, Shelley Buffalo, is moderating the webinars. Through 2/23/22, we have conducted two of the four webinars. The third will be on March 1 and the fourth will be on March 9, 2022. The well-publicized and well-attended forums are being recorded and stored on the Seed Savers Exchange YouTube channel (SSEHeritageFarm) for continued application after the initial live broadcast.

• Grow and evaluate 10-15 (actual: 12) Indigenous crop varieties at Seed Savers Exchange and approximately 40 (actual: 45) varieties at partner sites 
• Share and demonstrate organic growing, corn and squash hand pollination, and other planting/growing/harvesting/seed saving techniques among partners
• Use virtual forums to educate key audiences and a broader segment of the public
• Increase knowledge of Indigenous foodways and land management practices among both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities
• Support Indigenous agricultural sustainability, food access, and economic opportunity through rematriation of Indigenous varieties
• Ensure adequate seed inventory in the SSE seed bank for long-term preservation
• Ensure that varieties can be grown again and stewarded in the communities in which they were originally grown