Restoring Our Seed
 |
www.growseed.org
Organic
farmers working together
to build a community
seed supply
Dear Seed Grower,
The Restoring
Our Seed project will be sowing its first seeds with a Seed Saving
Conference and Winter Seed Seminar. Our goal is to create an extension program
to train farmers in ecological seed crop production and in field methods to
improve open-pollinated vegetable seed quality.
Restoring Our Seed is funded
by
|
Seed Saving
Pre-Conference Emphasizing seed
saving nuts and bolts, this day is particularly appropriate for those new to
seed growing or who have saved seed on a small scale for themselves. It will
provide a foundation for the intensive Winter Seminar to follow. Presenters: Tom Stearns,
High Mowing Farm, Will Bonsall, Nicolas Pre-registration is required. The program
is free. A delicious lunch is available for $10. |
|
Winter Seed
Seminar Saturday, Jan.
11 - Sunday Jan. 12 at MOFGA, Unity, Dr. John Navazio and Frank Morton will provide an intensive
seminar for farmers interested in larger scale or commercial seed production,
varietal selection or improvement. The winter seminar program itself is free; a
check for $50 will cover two delicious meals each day.
Pre-registration is required whether or not you desire the meals. |
Pre-registration is
required for both events - visit www.growseed.org for
details.
John Navazio has been a plant breeder for Alf Christianson
Seed Co. and Garden City Seeds. He serves as a technical advisor to seed
companies and seed growers nationwide. Frank
Morton has created dozens of amazing varieties from Hyper Red Rumple Waved
Lettuce to Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled Cress, from sublime shades of orache to
gorgeous ornamental kale/broccoli crosses; offered in seed catalogs from coast
to coast.
The year-long
If you have questions,
email crlawn@fedcoseeds.com or call 872-8307.
Kindly,
CR Lawn and Eli Kaufman
Seed-Saving Pre-Conference
MOFGA, Unity, ME.
Emphasizing seed saving nuts and bolts, this day is appropriate
for those new to seed growing or who have saved
seed on a small scale.
It will provide a foundation for the intensive Winter Seminar to
follow.
Slide show: "Seed Saving on the Small Farm-
a visual tour of Organic Seed
Production in the Northeast"
– Nicolas Lindholm
with emphasis on important crops
– Tom Stearns
with emphasis on important crops
– TomStearns
over-wintering biennials, vernalization,
long-season annuals
Strategies for
keeping Cross-Pollinating Species Pure:
isolation distances, row covers,
caging, timing, hand-pollinating
– Will Bonsall
What crops make sense to grow at different scales of
operation,
selling to seed companies,
producing efficiently and profitably.
Wrap-up and
Conclusion
Presenters:
Tom Stearns, High Mowing
Farm,
Will Bonsall,
Nicolas
Pre-registration
is required. Visit: www.growseed.org
for registration details.
The program is free, and a delicious lunch is available for $10.
Winter Seed Seminar
Saturday and
MOFGA, Unity,
Seed Production and Crop
Improvement in Whole Farm Systems
with John Navazio and
Frank Morton
This seminar will provide seed growers with
basic knowledge and skills for:
* organic seed
production, and
* selection and
breeding to adapt crops for sustainable farming in
A key aspect of a truly sustainable, bioregional agriculture is to
identify and improve suitable crop varieties through farmer selection of seed
stocks. These farmer-bred varieties can then excel under the environmental
conditions and cultural techniques used by the farmers of that bioregion. This
is in sharp contrast to our current reliance on crop varieties bred under
chemically intensive, monoculture farm operations.
Organic farms provide excellent selection opportunities for
genetic improvement of crops. These seed crops in turn provide an excellent
environment to enhance populations of crop-protecting insects. The synergy of
genetic and environmental improvement is the next level of sophistication in
organic farming systems.
Schedule
Day One - Ecological Seed
Crop Production
Day Two - Crop Improvement
for Organic Farming Systems
John Navazio will cover :
- selection
and maintenance of crop varieties to increase the genetic diversity and
elasticity of open-pollinated vegetables,
- breeding
to improve the plant's ability to withstand disease and insect attack, heat,
drought, and cold stress,
- strategies
to increase the crop's genetic ability to grow vigorously and retrieve
nutrients under cold soil conditions, to retrieve water under dry conditions,
and to out-compete with weeds during crucial early growth.
- selection
and roguing techniques for self-pollinated and cross-pollinated crops,
and annual versus biennial crop plants.
- selection
to improve crops for reproductive health, fecundity and seed yield.
- increasing the
genetic elasticity of our crops as it relates to the evolution of food crops.
Frank Morton will present an overview of
farm landscape ecology, with an emphasis on enhancement of beneficial insect populations
through the use of "seed guilds". These are collections of
non-crossing seed crop species that function as beneficial insect habitats
(rearing sites) and refuges for insect allies in the midst of vegetable or
other farm crop systems. Integration of "flowering crops" among
vegetable or grain production plots provides the agroecosystem with greater
biodiversity, economic diversification, and ecological resilience. Strategies
for crop integration and seed guild design will be discussed with deference to
the practicalities of farming. Karen Morton's photographs will illustrate the
principles, species, and landscapes under discussion.
Group discussions will address how farmers decide which traits are
important to improve and which diseases and pests farmers
should select against-to build farmer-based breeding partnerships in