A letter from our executive director Micaela Colley
As you planted seed this spring, did you think about how each variety was bred and produced? Or about saving some of your own seed this year? Maybe you wish your favorite variety had been available in a certified organic form.
If so, you are not alone.
According to Organic Seed Alliance’s data, less than 20% of organic farmers have access to enough organic seed to meet their agronomic and market needs. Most U.S. organic production relies on seed bred for chemical-intensive agriculture. These high-input systems, and the seed bred for them, lack agricultural resilience. Continue reading →
Innovative programs at California colleges are training our next generation of farmers in organic, sustainable agricultural practices. These students will go on to be some of tomorrow’s farmer leaders. But while they may learn about topics like cover cropping and organic pest control for vegetable production, few have heard much about seed crops as a potential part of farm enterprises, either for commercial sale or on-farm use. For OSA, speaking to these classes is an opportunity to introduce seed production to future farmers.
Through funding from Gaia Fund and Western SARE, I am on the first OSA college seed production speaking tour, giving presentations on basic seed production techniques and on opportunities and challenges in developing organic seed systems. I am talking with classes at Mendocino College in Ukiah, Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, Cabrillo College in Aptos, Cal Poly – San Lois Obispo, and the Agricultural Land-Based Training Program (ALBA) with Hartnell College in Salinas.
So far, the response has been enthusiastic. Having learned more about seed production, it seems the vast majority of the students are now considering producing seed either commercially or for their own use.
This may be the first OSA college speaking tour, but it certainly won’t be the last. The next tour in California is being schedule for this fall. If you know of a class in California that might be interested in having OSA present on seed production, contact Jared Zystro at jared[at]seedalliance.org.
When are comments due?
Submit your public comment by the end of the day today (April 27, 2012)
How do I submit a comment?
Click here and hit “submit a comment.”
Talking points?
The petition from Dow AgroScience before USDA (docket No. APHIS-2010-0103) is the first of next generation genetically engineered (GE) crops designed to survive application of even more toxic herbicides. In the case of this petition, the GE trait confers tolerance to 2,4-D, an antiquated herbicide linked to cancer, reproductive toxicity, and endocrine disruption. Herbicide-tolerant crops have proven to be a short-lived technology that compounds weed problems and increases herbicide use. Yet the biotechnology industry’s answer is more of the same. Adding another GE corn trait to the marketplace also exacerbates ongoing challenges to protect the genetic integrity of organic and other non-GMO corn seed, adding more costs and risks for organic farmers, companies, and their customers.
Tell USDA that its job is to look out for the best interest and health of farmers, farm workers, and their families and communities, not the bottom line of chemical companies.
Support Gillibrand Amendment (#4) to Provide Farmers Locally Adapted Seeds
If you live in one of the states represented by members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, call your senator TODAY and ask him/her to support Senator Gillibrand’s Senate Farm Bill amendment that provides farmers locally adapted seeds. (If you live in New York, call Senator Gillibrand to thank her!)
Farmer access to locally adapted seeds is paramount to fostering the competitiveness of agriculture in all regions of the country. Farmers need access to seeds that are bred specifically for their regions and cropping systems, allowing them to grow crops well suited to their local soil, climate, and pest conditions. But agricultural research trends have shifted toward the national production of seeds for a few major crops, greatly limiting farmers’ seed choice and narrowing the diversity of our agricultural system.
To address this problem, the 2008 Farm Bill required USDA to make conventional plant and animal breeding a priority for funding within the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). But in the AFRI grant-making process, USDA has imposed hurdles that have prevented the agency from meeting this Congressional mandate.
The Gillibrand amendment would reinforce and build on the mandate from the 2008 Farm Bill by requiring that 5% of annual funding for the AFRI program be used for making sure that farmers have access to locally adapted seeds and breeds by focusing on public cultivar and breed development, and removing the hurdles that have hindered USDA’s progress toward this goal.
CBO has given the Gillibrand amendment a zero score.
Continue reading →
The organic movement has grown because many recognize that the path of breeding and farming that humanity is presently engaged in needs to change if it is to lead to healthier humans and a healthier planet. In conception and practice, the agricultural research community has progressively disregarded the whole organism and its integrity in favor of industrial production goals and measures that grow out of molecular or one-sided thinking. The consequences appear to be associated with greater production but a progressive degeneration of health, taste, and nutritional density.
There is a growing realization that if organic farming is to succeed long-term it will be necessary to breed healthy, productive, nutritious crops and breeds of animals that are suited to the environments found on organic farms. Such crops and animals also need to be capable of being productive under the stresses imposed by global climatic change.
Organic farming is a holistic approach that includes concepts of balance, productivity, quality, and integrity. Appropriate breeding objectives for an “organic” agriculture might include: 1) breeding crops that are uniquely adapted to organic, low-input conditions; 2) selecting them for enhanced health, vegetative vigor, taste, and nutritional value combined with productivity; and 3) practicing and teaching a qualitative-quantitative approach to breeding and management that includes organic values and involves and encourages others to practice this approach. The end result should be that unique seeds, that combine productivity and nutritional quality and are adapted to organic farming, become available for farmers and gardeners, and thereby enhance nutrition and the environment.
Continue reading →
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2012
CONTACT: Jared Zystro, Research & Education Specialist, (608) 957-4829, jared@seedalliance.org
Southeast Farmers Say More Organic Seed Research and Education Needed
Organic Seed Alliance Publishes Results of Regional Survey
Port Townsend, WA – Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) has released findings from an organic seed survey conducted in the Southeast region of the U.S. Findings point to enormous interest among farmers and other agricultural professionals in strengthening seed systems in the Southeast to address the needs of the organic community. The short report can be downloaded here (opens PDF). This project is made possible by funding from the Seed Matters initiative.
Working with regional partners, OSA developed an online survey to assess organic seed systems in the Southeast and identify collaborative opportunities to expand and improve these systems. The survey, which closed last month, collected responses from more than 2,200 individuals, including nearly 500 farmers. The following findings are drawn from these farmer responses:
Continue reading →
A practical breeding manual for growers and gardeners was recently published by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY). Breeding Organic Vegetables: A Step by Step Guide for Growers was written by Rowen White, who operates a regional seed company in the Northwest (http://sierraseeds.org/), and Bryan Connolly, a botanist and doctoral student at the University of Connecticut. The manual can be purchased and is also available as a free download (opens PDF).
And be on the lookout this summer for another organic seed resource. OSA’s Dr. John Navazio’s new book, The Organic Seed Grower: A Farmer’s Guide to Vegetable Production, hits shelves in August 2012, and serves as a comprehensive manual for serious vegetable growers interested in growing high-quality seeds using organic farming practices. The book is written for both serious home seed savers and diversified small-scale farmers who want to learn the necessary steps involved in successfully producing a commercial seed crop organically. Read more here.
An eOrganic webinar, “Breeding for Nutrition in Organic Seed Systems,” originally presented at OSA’s 2012 Organic Seed Growers Conference, is now available as a three-part series. In part one, Philipp Simon of the University of Wisconsin – Madison discusses breeding prospects and challenges for plant breeders, as well as his carrot breeding work. In part two, Jim Myers of Oregon State University discusses breeding tomatoes for increased flavonoids. And, in part three, Walter Goldstein of the Mandaamin Institute discusses corn breeding for nutritional value.
Follow this link for conference recordings.
This week OSA joined more than 160 organizations in a letter to the Senate and House Agriculture Committees and Senate and House Judiciary Committees urging them to make the issues of increased market transparency, fairness, and access for farmers and ranchers a top priority in agricultural competition legislation and the next Farm Bill.
Two years ago, USDA and DOJ hosted workshops across the US on competition issues in agriculture and antitrust enforcement. Thousands of farmers and ranchers testified in person or submitted written comments about the harm arising from market concentration and anticompetitive conduct.
On the issue of seed, the letter calls on the committees to: Address practices in the seed industry that reduce competition and raise prices for farmers, including restrictive utility patents, cross-licensing agreements, limited access to germplasm and generic seeds, and the use of patents to undermine competition and stifle scientific innovation in the seed industry.
OSA detailed the consequences of seed industry concentration in our comments to USDA and DOJ here.
The call for labeling of GE foods is sounding around the country. Today, the multi-partner “Just Label It” campaign has acquired 1 million supporters of a petition to the FDA calling for mandatory labeling of GE foods. This is a terrific move forward in urging our leaders and federal agencies to require labeling of GE foods. Do your members of congress support GE food labeling?
Reprinted from Just Label It 3/27/12 (original post):
Congratulations, together, we have made history. We now stand more than one million strong in asking the FDA to label genetically engineered (GE) foods. Today, March 27 is the date that the FDA is required to respond to the petition and it took us less than 180 days to accumulate a record breaking number of public comments—a testament to the power of our collective voices to demand our right to know what’s in our food. This campaign’s strength is due to the over 500 diverse partner organizations who helped galvanize the American people to this moment.
We know that one million is just a start. Today, a new national survey commissioned by Just Label It reveals that more than nine out of 10 of Americans across the political spectrum supports labeling food that has been genetically engineered. The new infographic below is a compelling visual that shares the results of the survey data.
