Maine farmers work on seed security

    BRIDGEWATER – Maine has a rich and diverse agricultural history that includes the growth of long-standing seed companies, as well as early innovations in organic farming. Among these success stories is the founding of the oldest and largest organic farming association in the country, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA).    At the end of July, farmers, researchers, and organic seed advocates from across the United States will gather in Maine to share their knowledge about how to keep the country’s and the world’s organic seed supply healthy.
    The Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) will also host a twilight public presentation on organic seed July 30 at MOFGA’s Education Center, located at the Common Ground Fairgrounds in Unity.
    OSA began as a regional group in the Pacific Northwest, but is now a national organization dedicated to the ethical development and stewardship of agricultural seed. Its annual board of directors meeting will take place this year at Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater, owned and operated by OSA President Jim Gerritsen and his wife, Megan. Directors and staff will visit some Maine seed companies as part of their visit, such as FEDCO, Johnny’s Selected Seeds and the Maine Seed Potato Board’s Porter Farm.
The missing piece of the puzzle
    Gerritsen began to work with OSA because he saw a missing component in organic agriculture.
    “Seed is the foundation of crop agriculture,” he said. “Good organic seed is an important component of a successful organic crop. Organic Seed Alliance is working from the local to the national and the international level to improve the quality and availability of excellent organic seed.”
    OSA Director of Advocacy Matthew Dillon underlines the need to act now.
    “The opportunity and need for organic seed have never been higher,” said Dillon. “Seed has been a piece of the organic and local food system puzzle that we haven’t fully placed, but farmers and researchers alike are beginning to see the need to pay more attention to it.”
    Dillon also highlights the stewardship role in seed cultivation and conservation, and ultimately in local food security.
    “The seed industry is increasingly controlled by a few giant players. OSA believes that farmer involvement in local plant breeding and seed production is key to creating decentralized seed systems that will serve current and future needs,” he said.
Organic seed – at risk?
    Dillon points to organic seed as a resource that is at risk, not only from consolidated control but also from contamination from transgenic (or GMO) crops. The biotech industry has been lobbying internationally to get the organic community to accept a certain amount of “low level presence” of transgenes in organic foods. OSA is opposed to any such compromise in seed crops, so much so that they recently engaged in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop the planting of transgenic sugar beets, which could contaminate table beet and chard seed crops.
    “We’re not a watchdog organization,” Dillon said. “We simply believe the integrity of organic food depends on organic seed that is free of genetically modified contaminants.”
    It has been shown repeatedly that it is difficult, if not impossible, to ensure this genetic purity in the presence of nearby GMO crops. Pollen, carried by wind beyond any “GMO-free” legal boundaries, alters the seeds of contaminated organic plants. This has caused a number of farmers to lose organic certification. The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association has been launched by OSA to undertake litigation and lobbying activities to protect the integrity of organic seed.
Participatory breeding
    The Organic Seed Alliance itself focuses on education, working with farmers, university researchers and the organic seed sector. It delivers workshops and publications to help develop farmers’ seed production skills and improve varieties suited to organic farming. Its biennial conference has become an internationally popular event that has raised the profile of organic breeding and seed systems.
    OSA’s participatory plant breeding program differs from the typical industry approach, in that farmers have an important role as leaders in the breeding process. Program Director Micaela Colley explains how important the participatory approach is in organic systems, where there are very few commercial breeding programs and an array of needs.
    “Organic farmers are often producing in areas outside of industrial agricultural centers,” Colley said. “They have different ecological conditions, including the absence of chemical fertilizers and greater weed competition, as well as markets that demand aesthetically pleasing, tasty, nutritious food.”
Public invited to learn more
    On Wednesday, July 30 at MOFGA’s headquarters in Unity, members of OSA’s Plant Breeding Committee welcome the public to a session titled “On-Farm Vegetable Breeding” aimed to help farmers improve and breed locally adapted organic seed varieties with a focus on grains, which are in sharp demand.
    Bill Tracy from the University of Wisconsin will discuss his sweet corn work with OSA, and wheat breeding will be addressed by Steve Jones (Washington State University), Steve Zwinger (North Dakota State University), and Heather Darby (University of Vermont).
    A slide presentation and discussion will be followed by a field walk to view plant populations and varieties from OSA’s “Heirlooms of Tomorrow” participatory plant breeding projects. Pre-registration is not required, but MOFGA can be reached at (207) 568-4142 or www.mofga.org.
    And for farmers, gardeners, and friends of agriculture who want to learn more about Organic Seed Alliance, visit their Web site at www.seedalliance.org to find “how to” publications on production to essays on the ethics and challenges of plant breeding and seed stewardship.