Seeds to the People

Seeds are our children and our elders. They are our past and our future!

— Rowen White, seedkeeper/farmer from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne

Seeds embody deep cultural ties that link people to their heritage, their traditional identity, and the natural world, and they strengthen community connections with food. True community-building within the food system must include planning, education, and infrastructure to ensure that future generations have seeds to plant — so that they can grow their own healthy food, support their families, contribute to the local economy, participate in their community, and bolster their local food systems.

Access to nutrient-dense, local food starts with access to locally grown seeds. The Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon is considered a world class seed-growing region, yet many educational farms like Rouge Valley Farm to School, and The Farm, a student-led organic farm at Southern Oregon University, as well as local community gardens, often rely on seeds from multinational corporations that are imported from other states or even other countries. In order to address some of the shortcomings within our food system, the endeavor must include access to locally grown and open-pollinated seeds.

Locally grown and locally adapted seeds have significant impacts on our community and the environment. These seeds are more tolerant of local climate conditions, resistant to pest pressures, productive, and nutritious, and they provide an opportunity to save the seeds after the food crop is harvested. These factors result in lower overhead costs for farmers and gardeners, less water use, healthier food, less pest pressure, and more climate resilience. All of which are helpful outcomes for home gardeners, farms, and school gardens across Jackson County, Oregon.

Cultivate Oregon, a nonprofit project of Earth Island Institute, is focused on regenerative agriculture issues, including building local seed- and food-system resiliency and increasing organic production throughout the state. We have developed two complementary programs that meet critical needs in our community, including providing seeds to those in need, supporting farming programs with locally grown seeds, and offering educational materials about seed saving.

Learn more about this Earth Island project at cultivateoregon.org

Seeds to the People is one of our programs that supports the urgent need for mailing free seeds to low-income and underserved communities across Oregon. The free seeds are sourced from donations from the national coop garden movement, and boxes of seeds that have been reclaimed from corporate store dumpsters due to expiration dates. Cultivate Oregon wants to add a selection of locally grown seeds to the donated seeds we offer through this program. Some of the donated seeds will also supply local seed swaps and the Medford Library’s “Seed Library” once the facilities open again.

Our goal with the Seeds to the People program is to ensure that all people, regardless of their finances, have access to seeds in order to grow food and help their families, and that they can save seeds that are adapted to their geographic region of Oregon.

Our Local Seeds for Local Food program is a collaboration that provides locally grown and adapted seeds for farming programs and ten school gardens in the Rogue Valley. We are helping existing farming programs by providing seeds that will thrive in our environment, supporting local seed growers, and providing education about the importance of planting and saving locally adapted seeds.

We want these critical farms and gardens to have the seeds necessary for success, and we work to support their ability to save seeds and to provide materials for educating students, the public, staff, and the community about the significance and benefits of growing locally adapted seeds.