About Us & Our Farm

Our Research Farm

Are you interested in visiting the Seeds of Change Research Farm this year? Our Farm Field Coordinator, Eero Ruuttila will be leading three tours. The first will be on Saturday, August 15th and the second on Saturday, September 15th and the third on Saturday September 12th; tours will be from 10am to 1pm.

Late summer is a pretty spectacular time at the farm with close to 1000 different varieties under cultivation and approaching maturity. You'll also get a look at our ever expanding greenhouses and seed cleaning facility. Please be aware that the conditions out there are a little rough so you will want to have sturdy boots, a hat and sunscreen, and maybe some repellent to keep the mosquitoes off.

To sign up for a tour, please go to our Contact Us page and select "Farm Tour Inquiry" as your inquiry type. Be sure to put "Farm Tour 2009" in the body of your message, as well as which day you wish to come and how many people are in your group, as space is limited. We'll sign you up and send you an e-mail with directions.

Rancho la Paz, the Seeds of Change Farm

At our Seeds of Change Research Farm organically grown seeds are more than a commodity. They are a living, breathing, dynamic entity that we continually cultivate, study, and develop. Our goal is to produce the finest open-pollinated varieties to share with our fellow gardeners and farmers. Through our research we are intimately familiar with our varieties, are able to expand our offerings, maintain confidence in the quality of our seed, and provide detailed, accurate information about what we sell.

The Farm
The Seeds of Change Farm was begun in Gila, NM, in 1989 by several passionate gardeners with a vision of preserving good open-pollinated seed varieties and promoting seed saving. Many hands contributed to the evolution of this company and the collection of seeds we now have to offer.

In 1996 the Research Farm moved north to a site closer to our offices in Santa Fe. We are currently growing on six acres of river valley flood plain along the Rio Grande River in El Guique, NM, at about 5600ft elevation. The land is ancient agricultural land originally cultivated by the Tewa people and has been farmed continually for thousands of years. We've developed our fields into good productive ground by intensively cover cropping, amending the soil with compost, practicing crop rotations, and minimizing soil degrading tillage practices. Our field season runs from April through September with cold, snowy winters and hot dry summers. In good years we are blessed with midsummer monsoon rains to augment our irrigation. Our irrigation water comes from an acequia (ditch) diverted from the Rio Grande River. We employ micromisters, drip, and flood irrigation according to crop needs. In recent years we've upgraded our facility with 3,600 square feet of greenhouse space, a 2,000 square feet pollination isolation tent, and an improved irrigation system, allowing us to optimize our growing and conduct research on several crops at once. All of our ground is certified organic by Oregon Tilth. Our farm staff consists of four year-round employees, additional summer field help, and one or two summer interns. During the fall and winter months all of the Seeds of Change seed is carefully cleaned in our state-of-the-art seed cleaning facility located on the farm.

Farm Research
As we outgrew the ability to grow all of our seeds ourselves, we developed a network of organic growers to work with us and shifted the focus of the farm to concentrate on seed research. Today we remain true to our original mission by offering an expanded line of 100% organic, open-pollinated seeds and still work to preserve the culture of seed saving, knowing our own seed is the first step in offering good advice and service to our customers.

Each year at the farm we collect data and conduct evaluations on our Seeds of Change lines of seed. For our vegetable and herb varieties, rich flavor is of primary importance. We evaluate the flavor of our varieties throughout the season, noting particularly how flavor qualities change with the weather, time of planting, or stage of growth. For our flower varieties, we look for brilliant displays of color, subtle intricate beauties, longevity of blooming, keeping quality of cut flowers, and attractiveness to beneficial insects.

Accurate descriptions of growth characteristics are important for field and garden planning. To this end we measure an array of characteristics including germination time, size, weight, flower stem length, and days to maturity. Beyond the fundamental information, we continually expand our knowledge base by evaluating such traits as pest and disease resistance, storability, attractiveness to beneficial insects, and resistance to bolting or lodging. The potential for learning about an individual variety is unending. At the Research Farm we continually strive to increase our level of intimacy with each of our varieties.

New Introductions
As gardeners, our interest in new discoveries is unending. We continually seek out new plants, better varieties, and unique additions to the garden. Each year our fields are filled with varieties collected and purchased from around the world in search of worthy additions to our current offerings. We evaluate potential new introductions based on whether they round out our current offerings, merit space in our own gardens, and are feasible for a gardener or grower to collect seed from. Once a new variety is identified we collect enough seed to send to one of our seed growers who will grow it out in a large enough quantity to offer in our catalog and website.

Plant Breeding
Some of our most rewarding work is developing Seeds of Change original varieties. We create new varieties through traditional plant breeding techniques that bring out unique or improved characteristics or combine desirable traits from existing varieties. Our Rainbow Inca Corn, Butter and Eggs Marigold, and Purple Wave Mustard are all Seeds of Change originals that were created by crossing several varieties and then selecting for the desired traits. Most of this work is pursued in collaboration with some of our seed growers and with semi-retired plant breeder and Seeds of Change co-founder, Alan Kapuler.

At the Research Farm and in our grower's fields we are also continually improving our lines of seed by selecting from field populations the individuals with the best vigor and most desirable traits. There are limitless possibilities of traits that can be enhanced through traditional plant breeding including pest and disease resistance, growth characteristics, flavor, color, vigor, and nutrition.

Bulk Seed
Continuing our role as leaders in the organic agricultural movement, we continue to develop a quality line of bulk organic seed varieties for farmers and market gardeners. We feel that using organic seed in organic growing is an important part of completing the cycle in a sustainable manner. At the research farm and in cooperating farmers' fields we are carefully evaluating our varieties for characteristics conducive to farm-scale cultivation including seedling vigor, yield, competitiveness with weeds, pest and disease resistance, and uniformity, while staying true to our commitment of providing exceptional flavor. Throughout the process of developing this new sector of our business we are visiting farmers in their fields and at markets across the country, conducting field variety trials, and inviting feedback from our customers on which varieties perform best. Our vision of the future is to develop varieties with traits that perform well in organic growing conditions.

Farm Tours
Each year we invite gardeners and farmers who share in our excitement to visit us on our open farm tour dates, usually set for late August and mid September. Watch for dates announced on our web-site and in our e-newsletter.

Seeds of Change
At Seeds of Change sound research and strong ties with the organic community enable us to deliver the highest quality seed. At our Research Farm, nestled along the beautiful Rio Grande River, we continue to kindle our passion for working with seeds and gain knowledge and experiences to share with you and the rest of the organic community. Join us in your own gardens to celebrate the cycle of seed to plant to seed.