A Report on the 2006 Organic Seed Growers Conference
by Scott Vlaun

Twenty years ago, chances are you could have fit all the organic seed grown in this country under the z-bed of a 1967 split-window Volkswagen microbus. Organic agriculture was in its infancy, being led by a burgeoning back-to-the-land organic gardening movement, and there were probably more organic seeds bartered than sold. Today, led by companies like Seeds of Change, organic seeds are housed in large climate-controlled warehouses and are sold widely through colorful racks in garden centers and natural food stores, as well as through catalogs and websites. While it is certainly a burgeoning movement, the organic seed "industry" is still dwarfed by its chemical-based "conventional" counterpart.

The growth in the organic seed movement has come from three basic sources. First, many of the early "grass-roots" seed-savers have matured into serious producers of high-quality organic seed for the market. These producers often involve themselves in variety improvement projects; they sell to more than one seed company and/or through their own businesses. Seeds of Change has played an important part in this growth, with extensive grower training and by making seeds available to organic gardeners and farmers. Second, growth in the organic seed industry has also come from the top down, as large commercial seed companies, spurred on by the USDA organic seed ruling, delve into the organic market, bringing their expertise in hybridization and mechanization. The third source is the public sector, as universities begin to show interest in working with the organic seed movement to identify crop improvement strategies and seed pathology issues, and as non-profit and grass-roots organizations form to facilitate collaboration.

These three groups converged at the 2006 biennial Organic Seed Growers Conference, sponsored in part by Seeds of Change and hosted by the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA), Washington State University (WSU), and Oregon State University (OSU). Attended by a sold-out crowd of over 160 seeds people, the conference was truly a collaboration among these three once disparate entities—microbus meets late-model diesel pick-up meets Toyota Prius. The historic and intimate McMenimen's Edgefield Resort in Troutville, Oregon provided a perfect setting for the two-day event, which was preceded by a well-attended, one-day "Seed Biology Short Course." Even more extraordinary than the fact that representatives from these various groups had convened to share information, was the respect and admiration that they showed for each other and the genuine interest in further developing a rigorously informed organic seed movement, dedicated to producing the highest quality seed for organic gardeners and farmers.

The conference theme of seed quality, pervasive throughout the presentations, was eloquently set forth by conference coordinator Micaela Colley in her opening address. Micaela brings seven years of experience as Research Farm Manager, and subsequently, Bulk Seed Representative, for Seeds of Change, to her new position as Farmer Outreach Coordinator with OSA. Seed quality, she pointed out, is "vital not only to the future of organic seed producers, but to the whole of agriculture." While seed quality encompasses a broad range of characteristics, such as vigor, purity, and uniform genetics, Micaela also reminded us that, especially for organic agriculture, "seed quality means maintaining the genetic diversity necessary for adapting to a constantly changing ecosystem."

Over the course of the two-day conference, nowhere was the efficacy of utilizing genetic diversity more apparent than in the work of the first presenter, David Christensen. After leading the group in some spirited gospel singing to get everyone's attention, David shared the story of how he developed his extraordinary Painted Mountain corn by combining a wide array of genetics from stress-enduring corns and selecting the strongest survivors. The result of his more than three decades of work is a short-season, cold- and altitude-adapted corn that survives where others fail, is extremely adaptable, and shows higher levels of protein and anthocyanins than most commercial corns. David's talk set an inspiring tenor for the conference and filled the crowd with a sense of possibility as to what can be achieved with vision, perseverance and limited resources. His project, dubbed "Seed We Need," has supplied seed to indigenous people from Siberia to North Korea, where the results have been more than promising.

If one man can develop corn to feed a hungry world, imagine the progress achievable when university scientists work with farmers to develop vigorous, disease-resistant crops specifically tailored for organic production. While university research in agriculture is still dominated by the needs of a chemical-based food system and the high economic stakes of genetic engineering, it was clear to conference attendees that times are indeed changing. Nearly half of the presentations were given, either wholly or in part, by university researchers, addressing many important issues for organic producers.

These presentations covered a broad range of topics, often integrating practical information. Thus the audience was left not only enlightened to important issues, but also armed with techniques to improve the quality of their seed. One example of this synergy was the presentation entitled "Management of Black Rot of Crucifers from Seed to Seed" by Dr. Ken Johnson of OSU, Robin Ludy of the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, Jodi Lew Smith of High Mowing Seeds, and Alex Stone of OSU. They joined forces to give a compelling presentation that covered everything from identifying and controlling the disease in the field, to a hands-on demonstration of how to treat contaminated seed with carefully controlled hot water baths. Along these lines, another important university-based research report came from WSU's Dr. Lindsay du Toit. Addressing an area of critical importance to the organic seed industry, her "Seed Borne Diseases: An Overview" was a hit with conference attendees.

Many in the crowd were delighted to see attention given to nutrition and organics. Alyson Mitchell from University of California at Davis presented research that is beginning to confirm what many of us have always suspected: organically produced food is more nutritious. While not conclusive, the Davis study did show higher levels of many nutrients in organic fields vs. their conventional counterparts, especially in tomatoes. Other presentations focusing on nutrition included Shree P.Singh and Dale T. Westerman's compelling study on the "Effect of High- and Low-Input Organic and Conventional Production Systems on Dry Bean Nutrients" and Phillip W. Simon's (USDA/University of Wisconsin, Madison) colorful presentation on "Breeding Carrots for Improved Nutritional Value." Simon challenged our carrot preconceptions with his research into increased phytonutrient levels of yellow, red and purple carrots.

Setting the tone for all of these university presentations, and for the conference in general, was a presentation by George Moriarty, who was standing in for Molly Jahns of Cornell University. Ms. Jahns's research program is the home of the Organic Seed Partnership, which facilitates the collaboration of public and private plant breeders, non-profit organizations, seed companies, and farmers, in developing vegetable varieties for the organic market. For many in attendance, the involvement of farmers in seed research hit close to home, and the knowledge and breadth that seed farmers bring to the movement was apparent in many presentations.

Don Tipping, Nash Huber, Fred Brossy, and Frank Morten, all veteran seed growers involved with participatory breeding projects with Seeds of Change and OSA, shared their own experiences with integrating seed production into their varied farming operations. From Don's extremely diverse, small-scale, permaculture-inspired farm to Fred's and Nash's larger-scale production systems, and Frank's highly evolved yet human-scale operation, there was plenty of inspiration as well as detailed information to go around as they extolled the virtues of an integrated approach.

Adding to the rich, personal perspectives of the farmers, the seed-industry perspective was shared by Tom Stearns of Highmowing Seeds and Joel Reiten of Bejo Seeds. Coming from opposite ends of the spectrum (respectively, a small, family-owned, organic-only enterprise and an international seed giant with a recent commitment to organics), Joel and Tom shared unique and varied insights into the economics of the organic seed business, not to mention a few good laughs. Adding to the industry perspective, David DeCou of the Organic Materials Review Institute proposed the idea of an organic-seeds database to connect organic growers with seed company offerings and solicited ideas as to how this might work. Many constructive ideas ensued from the discussion, and hopefully a much-needed database of available organic seed varieties will be a reality in the near future, giving the organic seed movement a welcome boost.

If there is one person who epitomizes the organic seed movement, it has to be John Navazio. His career as a seedsman, researcher, and educator has crossed over into all the segments of the industry, and few in the business have not benefited from his expertise. Seeds of Change has been fortunate to work with John on various plant improvement projects through the years and he has shared his experience with many Seeds of Change growers. His discussion of the "Environmental Challenges of Raising Organic Vegetable Seed West of the Cascades" demonstrated and effectively shared his broad knowledge, especially of "cool season, dry seeded, vegetable crops," which he has affectionately dubbed CSDSVC. While we all appreciated his discourse on the establishment of adequate photosynthetic area and the day-length sensitivity of angiosperms, nothing compared to seeing him wailing on his guitar and belting out some Johnny Cash at the previous day's social gathering. (See eNewsletter #32 for a wide-ranging conversation between John Navazio and Seeds of Change's Steve Peters.)

I think that anyone who attended the 2006 Organic Seed Growers Conference couldn't help but come away a little smarter and a little more inspired. From the insightful presentations, seed cleaning demos, seed swap and resource center, to the late night conversations about storage onions and lettuce diseases, there was a sense that an industry, fueled by passion and commitment, is finally coming of age and is well on its way toward what OSA director Matthew Dillon described in his passionate closing remarks as "an essential step in fulfilling the spirit of organics." At Seeds of Change we are proud to have played a pioneering and enduring role in this movement and we look forward to the day when all organic agriculture begins with high-quality organic seeds.