The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food (32 page)
Read The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food Online
Authors: Janisse Ray
Organizations
Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
Biodynamics is a type of holistic organic farming.
East Troy, Wisconsin
Californians for GE-Free Agriculture
A coalition of farmers and others committed to ecologically responsible and economically viable agriculture.
Canadian Biotechnology Action Network
A campaign for food sovereignty and environmental justice.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Carrotmob
Influencing businesses by spending instead of boycotting.
Center for Cherokee Plants
Saving the food crops of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Cherokee, North Carolina
www.indiancountryextension.org/extension/program/center-cherokee-plants
Center for Food Safety
Working to end harmful food production technologies and promote organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture.
Washington, D.C.
Cuatro Puertas
The Arid Crop Seed Cache is one of the projects of this group that connects New Mexico’s urban and rural economies.
Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO)
Working with underutilized crops to improve the lives of the global poor, ECHO runs an amazing tropical fruit tree nursery and a seed bank.
North Fort Myers, Florida
Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN)
An international nonprofit working to support small farmers and social movements in the struggle for community-controlled and biodiverse food systems.
Barcelona, Spain
Georgia Organics
Promoting organic agriculture in my state.
Atlanta, Georgia
Hawaii SEED
Protecting the Hawaiian Islands and their people from risks posed by genetically engineered organisms.
Koloa, Hawaii
The Highland People’s Food Seedbank Project
One of many such revolutionary projects around the world.
Inverness, Scotland
http://thehighlandpeoplesfoodseedbank.webs.com
Institute for Responsible Technology
Founded by Jeffrey Smith—first look at their ten reasons to avoid GM.
Fairfield, Iowa
International Seed Saving Institute
Highly recommended as the place to go first for seed-saving information.
Ketchum, Idaho
Just Label It!
We have a right to know what’s in our food.
Washington, D.C.
Label GMOs
The California ballot initiative.
Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Finding sustainable solutions for rural Oklahoma.
Poteau, Oklahoma
The Keystone Center
Promoting Pennsylvania’s regional food cultures and keeper of the Roughwood Seed Collection.
Devon, Pennsylvania
Kitchen Gardeners
An online community promoting food self-reliance.
Scarborough, Maine
Landless Workers Movement: Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST)
Peacefully occupying unused land.
Brazil
Laughing Dog Farm
Daniel Botkin offers great information on his website.
Gill, Massachusetts
La Via Campesina: International Peasant Movement
Representing 150 organizations opposing corporate agriculture;
a grassroots mass movement.
Jakarta, Indonesia
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA)
If you live in or near Maine, join this force now.
Unity, Maine
Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG)
Farmer-led network working to maintain local control of genetic and biological resources and agricultural production in the Phillippines.
Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines
Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES)
Organizes a huge organic farming conference.
Spring Valley, Wisconsin
Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society
Organic food is on the table in Nebraska.
Ceresco, Nebraska
Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA)
Keeping the Northeast at the head of the pack.
Stevenson, Connecticut
Organic Farming Research Foundation
Using scientific research to transform agriculture.
Santa Cruz, California
Organic Seed Alliance
Advancing the ethical development and stewardship of agricultural seed.
Port Townsend, Washington
Ozark Seed Bank
Historically meaningful seeds for Ozark farmers.
Brixey, Missouri
Populuxe Seed Bank
You can start one too!
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Primal Seeds
A response to industrial biopiracy and monocults.
Rodale Institute
Going strong in organic agriculture since 1947.
Kutztown, Pennsylvania
Sacred Seeds
Creating and supporting plant sanctuaries that address the rapid loss of biodiversity and cultural knowledge.
http://sacredseedssanctuary.org
Sand Mountain Seed Bank
Homegrown seed preservation.
Albertville, Alabama
Savannah Urban Garden Alliance
Making this town near my home a food oasis, via community gardens.
Savannah, Georgia
The Seed Ambassadors Project
The path to locally adapted seed in the Willamette Valley. Check out
their seed-saving zine.
Sweet Home, Oregon
Seed Matters
Research and education.
Emeryville, California
Seed Savers Exchange
Nationwide members exchange open-pollinated seeds of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
Decorah, Iowa
Seedy Sunday
Huge community seed swap in the United Kingdom.
Brighton and Hove, England
Slow Food USA
As opposed to fast food.
Brooklyn, New York
South Carolina Crop Improvement Association Foundation Seed Program
This germbank includes a heirloom list, many grown for display at South Carolina Botanical Gardens.
Clemson, South Carolina
http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/seed/
Southern Foodways Alliance
Documenting, studying, and celebrating the South’s food cultures.
Oxford, Missouri
Southern Seed Legacy
A seed exchange that concentrates on the South.
Denton, Texas
http://pacs.unt.edu/southernseedlegacy/
Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center Inc.
Saving yesterday’s seeds for today and tomorrow, as well as economic development for the rural Appalachians; great source for heirloom beans.
Berea, Kentucky
Whole Grain Connection
Wheat seed project for California (a local-wheat movement).
Mountain View, California
Wild Farm Alliance
Integrating farms and ranches into natural landscapes—one effort is toward farming practices that accommodate wildlife.
Watsonville, California
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)
Volunteer on farms around the world in exchange for room, board, and an education.
Print and Online Publications
100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden
Carolyn Male, Workman Publishing, 1999
Acres USA Magazine: The Voice of Eco-Agriculture
Austin, Texas
“Becky and the Beanstock: Rebecca Pastor’s Heirloom Bean Blog”
St. Louis, Missouri
http://beckyandthebeanstock.com
Botany for Gardeners
(third edition)
Brian Capon, Timber Press, 2010
Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener’s and Farmer’s Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving
Carol Deppe, Chelsea Green, 2000
Breeding Organic Vegetables: A Step-by-Step Guide for Growers
Rowen White and Bryan Connolly, Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, 2011
Crops and Man
Jack R. Harlan, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society, 1992
Cultures of Habitat: On Nature, Culture, and Story
Gary Paul Nabhan, Counterpoint, 1997
Dave’s Garden
Encyclopedic information submitted by a large, international community of gardeners.
El Segundo, California
The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans
Patricia Klindienst, Beacon Press, 2006
The Ecologist
(especially the November 2008 issue)
London, UK
Gardening with Heirloom Seeds: Tried-and-True Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for a New Generation
Lynn Coulter, University of North Carolina Press, 2006
Gathering: Memoir of a Seed Saver
Diane Ott Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange, 2011
“GM-Free Churches: A Project of the Berea Gardens Agricultural Center”
www.gmfreechurches.blogspot.com
Green Food: An A-to-Z Guide
(Sage Reference Series on Green Society: Toward a Sustainable Future)
Dustin R. Mulvaney, Sage Publications, 2010
Growing Garden Seeds: A Manual for Gardeners and Small Farmers
Robert Johnston Jr., Johnny’s Selected Seeds, 1976
A Guide to Seed Saving, Seed Stewardship, and Seed Sovereignty
(fourth edition)
The Seed Ambassadors Project, 2010
Heirloom Seeds and Their Keepers: Marginality and Memory in the Conservation of Biological Diversity
Virginia Nazarea, University of Arizona Press, 2005
Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting, Seed Saving, and Cultural History
William Woys Weaver, Holt, Henry & Company, 1997
Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding
Noel Kingsbury, The University of Chicago Press, 2009
Pleasant Valley
Louis Bromfield, Wooster Book Company, 1945
Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods
Gary Paul Nabhan (editor), Chelsea Green, 2008
“Seed Matters: Cultivating a Sustainable Food Future”
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners
Suzanne Ashworth, Seed Savers Exchange, 2002
Seedling, GRAIN’s Quarterly Magazine
Barcelona, Spain
www.grain.org/article/categories/15-seedling
Seeds of Change—the Living Treasure: The Passionate Story of the Growing Movement to Restore Biodiversity and Revolutionize the Way We Think about Food
Kenny Ausubel, HarperCollins, 1994
Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating
Jeffrey M. Smith, Yes! Books, 2003
“Small Is Beautiful (and Radical)”
Elliot Coleman,
Grist
, February 3, 2010
www.grist.org/article/small-is-beautiful-and-radical
Soiled and Seeded: Cultivating a Garden Culture
An online garden magazine intent on expanding the conventional approach to gardens and the practice of gardening.
Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Vandana Shiva, South End Press, 2000
Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds