Seedy Characters

     I just spent two fascinating days transplanted into another world - one filled with "seedy" people. Really, these folks are passionate about seeds. They're bona fide seed geeks, whether they work in farm fields, home gardens or research labs. Before you roll your eyes, remember that if it weren't for them, you and I wouldn't eat. Even if you're a carnivore, whatever animal you eat relies on plants to survive.
     Best of all, these folks focus on organically-grown seeds.
    This was the 8th biennial conference presented by the   Organic Seed Alliance. Five hundred people came from across the country and around the world.. Another 500 signed up to watch the recorded workshops online. This is especially heartening since there were only about 60 people at their first conference. There were folks of all ages, levels of experience and probably as many women as men.

Many participants are also authors

    Why would they let someone in who has only casually saved a few dill or cilantro seeds (which require no more talent than to shake them into your hand)? I could easily have felt like an interloper, but was never made to feel such. While there were plenty of technical workshops, other topics we are (should) all be interested in: GMOs, seed security, how communities can grow their own seed and food, seed banks, how climate change is affecting our food supply, how can we adapt to change. If you do no more than simply eat food, all of this should concern you.



Frozen
     The keynote speaker, Cary Fowler, known as the "father" of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault sent shivers through the room not with photos of the frigid mountain into which this seed bank is carved, but the precariousness of the seedbanks around the world. Most are quite unsophisticated with little temperature control, cataloging or proper maintenance, putting the world's seed heritage at risk. Risk isn't just from natural disasters, but from human ones. Only one nation has withdrawn seeds from

GrassRoots Books had the last 38 copies of Folwer's first book

safekeeping at Svalbard. That was Syria. Fowler said they had managed to get their collection samples in Svalbard just before chaos hit Aleppo and when those who work with them got to another safe country, they asked for them back to start their research and production again. They will, of course, make another deposit to Svalbard. Most of us may not understand the urgency of saving seeds grown in a given place. We assume we can just send them some of ours and all will be fine. It won't. Our seeds won't work everywhere and besides, ours may well have been adapted from seeds that originated in that country. Most of us have no clue as to the critical interdependence of seeds. Seed "geeks" are responsible for not just our survivability, but our basic health. We owe them far more that we'll ever realize.
Patented Greed
     What most struck me was the fact not once did anyone utter the arrogant phrase "feed the world." That's a catch-phrase commonly used by the likes of  Monsanto and Syngenta to justify their patenting  as much heritage seed as possible in order to control the supply and "improve" it by making it resistant to their herbicides and pesticides. That all boils down to money. Lots of money since no one can survive without food.  I've never been to one of their conferences but can only imagine there is a lot more secrecy, fancy suits, and lawyers. At the Organic Seed Alliance there was just one suit (on an older panelist from Boston), lots of backpacks with juice jars poking out of them and hints of dirt under some fingernails. That's not shameful in this crowd. In fact, it's a tribal badge, it shows you understand and respect where food comes from. Fancy manicures would draw suspicion as much as patented seeds or patent leather shoes.
     Rather than make me feel like an interloper our outlier, this crowd left me with awe and gratitude. They also gave me a feast of food for thought which will feed my writing for years to come.