The Fifth Biennial Organic Seed Growers Conference
Salem, Oregon, February 14–15, 2008

Seeds for a Sustainable Food Future

It is increasingly clear that the status quo in agriculture will not be adequate to sustain a burgeoning planetary population. While tremendous gains in agricultural productivity were realized in the 20th century, these came with dramatically increased inputs, mostly derived from fossil fuels. These gains also came from pumping vast quantities of water from finite aquifers, some of which are now failing, most of which are dropping precipitously. While our current industrial-scale, monoculture-based, high input system of food production is still miraculously capable of feeding the more than six billion inhabitants of this wondrous planet, (modern day famine is more of a political than a production issue), increased population and dwindling resources may soon alter the equation.

In the face of this progressively untenable paradigm, a new agriculture is emerging. It is an agriculture that is decentralized, diversified, low input, and community-based. It is reflected in the thousands of farmers markets, CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture, or farm subscriptions), Farm to School programs, and myriad other community-based food systems that are popping up across the continent. Rather than a heavy reliance on off-farm, chemical- and petroleum-based inputs and the heavy environmental toll that comes with their manufacture and application, this new agriculture is based on vastly reduced inputs or completely “closed loop” cropping systems as well as rich biological diversity that emulates and complements natural ecologies. These systems are as diverse as the bioregions and microclimates in which they exist and as unique as the farmers that develop and maintain them, but they form a resilient web of food production that is far less prone to the kind of disasters that can befall highly concentrated and input-intensive agriculture.

As this new agriculture has developed, or in many cases, redeveloped, over the last few decades, there has been a simultaneous tragic loss of diversity within available cultivars. The seed industry has seen intense consolidation and tens of thousands of heirloom and traditional varieties have vanished as conservation and breeding efforts have centered around developing crops suited for industrial-scale, bioregion-specific, mono-cropping. While not extinct, countless other varieties have languished in isolated seed bank vaults, like the “doomsday vault” recently dedicated on the Svalbard Islands off the coast of Norway. While these seed banks form an important component to help preserve as much of our precious genetic heritage as possible, this all-important legacy needs to remain vital and alive on millions of small farms throughout the world and be adapted to increasingly dynamic local conditions by farmers, as has been the case for millennia. Unfortunately, this logical, and time-honored tradition has been undermined by the mad dash to patent genetic traits and manipulate life forms for profit.

In the face of this onslaught, there is a group of revolutionary farmers, plant breeders and researchers that are focusing their efforts, to not only conserve what’s left of our genetic heritage, but to evolve it to meet the needs of a new agriculture. Two hundred or so of these revolutionaries were in attendance at the most recent Organic Seed Growers Conference, held last month in Salem, Oregon and hosted by the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA), Oregon State University (OSU) and Washington State University (WSU).

From backyard seed-savers and seed industry executives, to university-based research teams, professional seed growers and itinerant plant breeders, this group of “seed people” are striving to insure that a new agricultural paradigm will have the quantity and quality of genetic diversity to adapt to the challenges ahead. There is much to be done and the clock is ticking.

A Context of Consequence

The discussions throughout the two-day conference covered a wide range of topics, reflecting the complexity of the mission as spelled out by the OSA Director of Advocacy Matthew Dillon in his opening address. While, he acknowledges, there are conflicting interests, or at least perceptions of conflict, at play between farmers, government regulators, and the seed industry, there is a need to work together for the common good; thus the need for a vital alliance between interested parties. “...the organic seed community” he points out, “must move forward with the spirit of organics—with diversity, complexity, and a systems approach that values all members of the community.”

Dillon’s imperative was deftly followed up by former Leopold Center for Sustainability Director Fred Kirschenmann. Dr. Kirschenmann, in a talk entitled “New Seeds for Farmers of the Future,” set forth an educated and sobering speculation on how agriculture will need to adapt to a future of declining non-renewable resources, unstable climate, environmental contamination, and increasing demands. It placed the dozens of lectures and discussions to follow in a context of consequence for our food future.

While the agenda included multiple tracks and was too extensive to cover comprehensively here, (full conference proceedings are available here) I’ll outline a few of the highlights in an attempt to flesh out some of the important issues and underscore the extent of the work being done.

A Global Imperative

Adding an international scope and depth of experience in organic plant breeding, Edith Lammerts van Beuren of the Louis Bolk Institute of the Netherlands, offered her take on “Concepts and Values in Organic Agriculture Relevant to Plant Breeding Techniques.” Her discussion laid down a framework of ethics around the concepts of manipulating plants for human use, and striking a balance between the urgent need to improve varieties for organic production and respecting the integrity of plants, and by extension, nature itself.

Two other presentations added to the international flavor of the conference. Lourdes Gaitan and Roger del Cid of GORACE, (Grupo Organico Agricultura Cerropunteños) in Panama shared their pioneering work to promote organic agriculture in the highlands of Panama, and also discussed their efforts to develop organic seed production to service the fledgling movement. Their presentation was both informative regarding the current situation in Panamanian agriculture, and also inspiring to see what a large impact a small group of dedicated people can have through experience and outreach.

Dr. Carol Miles of WSU took us back across the Atlantic to Malawi, Africa, where she has worked for the last seven years to assist in building a crop improvement and seed production and dissemination network for staple regional varieties. Unlike more developed countries, she related, much of Africa has no institutional support for seed development and farmers are often forced to use poor quality seed of varieties that are not well adapted to their conditions.

The Voice of Experience

While there was plenty of inspiration and broad level information about the overall state of the organic seed movement, abroad and at home, there was also a great deal of information about the nuts and bolts of seed production. A day-long pre-conference workshop entitled the “Fundamentals of Organic Seed Production Short Course” featured a comprehensive agenda, including discussions on Markets, Weed Management, Fertility, Isolation Distances, Harvesting and Cleaning, Disease Management and a well-attended session on Seed Growing Basics by OSA’s Farmer Outreach Coordinator Micaela Colley, who was also the Conference Coordinator.

The day ended with a “Successful Organic Seed Growers” panel discussion with Don Tipping of Seven Seeds Farm, Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed and Brian Anderson, followed by an “Ask the Experts Social” in which experienced growers made themselves available for one-on-one Q&A and further discussions.

Important practical information kept on flowing throughout the two-day conference proper with in-depth discussions on many of the above topics by many of the same speakers. The seed growers from day one were joined by Nash Huber of Nash’s Organic Produce, and Jim Gerritsen of Wood Prairie Farm. Huber shared his experiences from close to 30 years of “Integrating Seed into a Diversified Organic Farm” as well as his breeding and trialing work with OSA, including his ongoing work on a unique purple kale variety.

Gerritsen conducted two compelling talks about growing certified organic seed potatoes, which is far more complex than many of us realized. Among other techniques that Jim explained were careful cover crop rotations including the use of rape (canola) as a biofumigant,  “greensprouting,” a technique that he has developed to get a jump on the short growing season in Northern Maine, flame weeding on pre-emergent beds, and culling for disease control. Gerritsen is also the President of the OSA board.

University Research for the Public Good

From the academic world, Dr. Lindsey du Toit gave another fascinating talk, illuminating the unseen process of “Infection of Seed and the Transmission of Seed Borne Pathogens.” A subsequent discussion entitled “Overview of Organic Management of Diseases in Seed Crops” provided practical information for the grower, based on recent research in both the field and laboratory. The panel included Dr. Alex Stone of OSU, Dr. Ken Johnson of OSU and Frank Morton, who has performed on-farm trials and breeding work to create disease resistance in various crops.

The topic of “University-based Public Plant Breeding” was taken on by Dr. Jim Meyers of OSU, Dr. William Tracy of the University of Wisconsin, and Dr. Stephen Jones of WSU. While they reported that very little is left of the great university-based public breeding programs of the past, important work is still being done. To showcase a glowing example of this kind of work, Dr. Jones was joined by Dr. Kevin Murphy, also of WSU, for a talk entitled “Strategies for Plant Breeding in the Public Interest, in which they outlined an innovative approach to breeding work dubbed evolutionary/participatory breeding or EPB. This approach combines the age-old practice of mass-selection in farmers’ fields with farmer-led breeding initiatives utilizing the expertise of university-based professionals and independent breeders. EPB is already helping to expeditiously create genetically diverse, resilient and well-adapted varieties for low-input systems. As an example they explained how a highly productive wheat variety was developed by a high school-aged farmer in collaboration with University breeders and renowned participatory plant breeder Salvatore Ceccarelli.

Taking the discussion a step further, Dr. Tracy spoke to the subject of “Plant Breeding and Quality of Life in Rural America” in which he implored plant breeders to work with rural communities to help them diversify their agricultural systems and create varieties that would be useful in value-added enterprises.

An Alliance with an Industry

OSA’s own Dr. John Navazio, who incidentally lit up the stage with his band, The Pheromones, on Thursday night, carried this discussion yet another step with his inspiring “Participatory Approaches to Breeding Crop Varieties for Genetic Diversity.” This talk outlined many specific projects in which he and others have worked directly with farmers to generate highly productive open-pollinated varieties that can compete with hybrids in the marketplace. Many of the projects have resulted in new or improved commercially available varieties.

On the commerce side of things, two seed companies, High-Mowing Seeds (HMS) and Seeds of Change (SOC), had a high degree of involvement in the conference, both from a research and economics standpoint, while representatives from Enza Zaden and Bejo Seed from the Netherlands were also in attendance and part of the exchange.

Jodi Lew-Smith and Tom Stearns of HMS shared their recent research into the production of organic hybrid seeds, especially as pertaining to Cucurbita pepo (summer squash and pumpkins). The emphasis was on developing labor saving and certifiable organic methods of producing the cross-pollination that creates hybrid seeds, which are in increasing demand by commercial growers.

Joel Reiten, an organic seed production expert formally of Bejo Seeds and now with SOC, joined forces with Dan Sullivan and Nick Andrews of OSU to share their collective research and experience on “Nitrogen Management for Organic Vegetable Seed Production,” an important issue for any low-input agricultural system. Reiten also joined seed growers Don Tipping and Frank Morton for “Vegetable Seed: Ask the Experts,” which engendered a stimulating and wide-ranging discussion with plenty of audience participation.

SOC’s Steve Peters along with Dr. Brian Baker from the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) delved into the hot topic of “Organic Seed Market and Economics”. Peters, with more than a decade of experience contracting seed growers for SOC, stressed the importance of striving for a seed production and distribution system in which the needs of seed producers are balanced with the needs of seed consumers, while the environmental integrity of farm ecosystems is maintained or enhanced.

As the final speaker of the conference I was extremely honored to share my photographs of, and experiences with, many of the seed growers in attendance and to celebrate the revolution in agriculture that they are spearheading.

While it is clear that our current agricultural paradigm will face many challenges ahead, after three days at the Organic Seed Growers Conference, it is also abundantly clear that there is hope: Hope in the form of an extremely diverse group of committed, experienced and highly motivated people working tirelessly on a broad range of fronts to enable the transition to an equally diverse and ecologically sustainable agriculture for future generations. It’s reassuring to know that The Organic Seed Alliance is there to support these efforts and a fertile exchange of information and ideas. The movement they are creating will surely emulate the agriculture it engenders.

For more information about Organic Seed Alliance research, education and advocacy programs and the Organic Seed Growers Conference visit www.seedalliance.org

Scott Vlaun
Editor

Photo Captions: (1) A Plenary Session at the 5th Biennial Organic Seed Growers Conference in Salem, Oregon, (2) OSA Director of Advocacy Matthew Dillon working the crowd during a Q&A Session, (3) Roger del Cid and Lourdes Gaitan from GORACE in Panama inspired the crowd with their groundbreaking work, (4) Conference Coordinator and OSA Farmer Outreach Coordinator, Micaela Colley with "Koré," (5) Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed shares his seed cleaning techniques, (6) Nash Huber of Nash's Organic Produce fielding questions after his talk, (7) Jodi Lew-Smith of Highmowing Seeds discussing hybrid seed production, (8) Conference Committee member Joel Reiten of Seeds of Change discussing contracting issues