Environmental for Food Justice

Illustration by Julie Notarianni | Courtesy of Yes Magazine . Moderator’s Note: Our guest blog today is by a scientist who long has worked with New Mexico and Colorado acequia farmers to protect the native landrace chile peppers of the Rio Arriba (Upper Rio Grande) watershed. For many years, she worked closely with the late much beloved Estevan Arellano; Sandoval has a farm in Dixon not far from the Arellano family’s permaculture operation in Embudo Cañon. I am delighted that Ms. Sandoval has agreed to will share old and new posts with followers and readers of this blog as a featured guest contributor. The work that Ms. Sandoval has engaged in over the past two decades focuses on unifying scientific methodologies with local knowledge and practices followed by acequia farmers, plant breeders, and seed savers. Her work is thus a vital part of the indomitable seed sovereignty movement, which works from the grassroots up to protect, defend, and preserve farmer control over our heritage se...

Seeds. Jyoti Thomas. Source: absolutearts.com Moderator’s Note: The Seed Savers Exchange has actively served the nation’s farmers, gardeners, plant breeders, and seed librarians since 1975 as a reliable source of non-GMO heirloom seed. The Seed Savers released a statement in support of seed libraries last week. I am reposting their eloquent declaration in defense of seed libraries; for the original, please visit the Seed Savers home page . The statement makes a strong declaration of support for the principle tenet that seed saving is part of our deepest cultural heritage and people have been saving and sharing seeds for millennia.   Moreover, “Despite what some institutions have suggested, seeds can be valuable, safe and healthy without laboratory germination tests or government licenses.” I would like to remind our readers that seed libraries still face the real challenge to come up with a collective policy response that includes the ability to verify the non-GMO quality of our s...