Be a Seed Saviour
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| Andrea Berry, one of the farmers involved in the Seed Saviour Program, is helping get people interested in food and seed issues. |
The world has lost almost 75% of crop varieties, and crop genetic diversity is vanishing at the rate of about 2% per year. In North America alone, over the past century we’ve lost 90% of our fruit and vegetable varieties! This means market farmers have a shrinking choice of seed varieties available to them. For Canadians, that means a less stable food supply.
That’s why seed farmers from across the country have stepped up to help reverse this troubling trend. They’re working with USC to turn ordinary Canadians into Seed Saviours, by donating packets of organically produced seeds for USC to distribute free at events across the country.
The free exchange of seed among growers is a time-honoured way of conserving seed and spreading diversity. The Seed Saviour program has a role to play in preserving that exchange. It’s how our agricultural ancestry grows!
With the Seed Saviour program, USC hopes that Canadians will recognize how important agricultural diversity is to a strong local food system – not just in the global south, but here at home. Become a Seed Saviour and help protect seed diversity in your own backyard!
Become a Seed Saviour
There are several ways you can become a seed savior: 
- Plant organic and heirloom seeds, such as those found in our Seeds of Survival seed packets. If you recently picked up a seed packet, you can click the links on the right to find planting instructions for your seeds.
- After harvest, save your own seeds, or share and exchange them with friends, neighbours, and fellow farmers. By doing this, you’ll be promoting and protecting vital agricultural diversity in your own backyard!
- Give generously to USC Canada’s Seeds of Survival Program. Your contribution will protect agricultural-diversity and sustainable farming livelihoods around the world. It will help us build and maintain local community seed banks, train farmers on how to diversify crops and maintain collections of crop varieties, and help organize farmers to save and share seeds.
Additional Information
Glossary
Winnow – Winnowing is the act of cleaning seed by using weight and wind to separate debris. Winnow seed by pouring gently from one bucket to another in a light breeze. In the absence of a breeze, use a gentle setting on a room fan.
Chaff – Any non-seed debris.
Isolation Cage – An isolation cage is a netting enclosure to prevent insect pollinators from accessing plants and potentially cross-pollinating different varieties while still allowing air, light, wind-borne pollen and moisture to enter.
Making an Isolation Cage – Instructions: An isolation cage is essentially a cube of netting or fly screen with the bottom missing. Choose a mesh size small enough to exclude insects. For example, a piece of screen 1 metre by 5 metres will give a cage large enough to cover three or four pepper plants. Erecting the cage is easy – place four blunt-topped stakes that are taller than your plants’ mature height at four corners around the selected plants. Twist wire or fishing line around the stakes to form a square, making sure it is secure and won’t slip. Do the same twenty centimetres form the base of the plants to be a second support point for the netting. Place netting over this skeleton and place clips to affix netting to the top wire and base wires. Ensure there is sufficient netting to touch the ground and weigh this down with stones or boards to keep from blowing up.
References:
Ashworth S. 2002. Seed to Seed: Seed Saving Techniques, 2cd Edition. Seed Savers Exchange, 228 pages. www.seedsavers.org
Gabel B and K McEvoy. 2011. Basic Seed Saving for Beginners. The Real Seed Collection Ltd [Online: www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html]
Organic Seed Alliance. www.seedalliance.org
Seeds of Diversity Canada. How to Save Your Own Seeds, 5th edition. www.seeds.ca
Stickland S. 2008. Back Garden Seed Saving. Eco Logic Books, 200 pages.
Going to Seed: Growing Organic Seed in Eastern Canada. Daniel Brisebois. http://goingtoseed.wordpress.com/ A blog on seed saving.
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