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Last week OPN travelled to Corvallis, Oregon to attend the 9th Organic Seed Growers Conference. This biennial conference is the largest organic seed event in the U.S., with over 300 attendees from 38 different states and countries.
The attendees are working farmers and earnest seed producers, plant breeders, and researchers who are passionate about what they do.
Professional plant breeders from Johnny’s, High Mowing, FEDCO and Vitalis were all in attendance. So were many small farmers keen to fiddle with germ plasma and breed their own unique varieties. They gathered in Oregon to share their stories, techniques, challenges and swap seeds.
This year's theme was Synergy that Sustains, and the first two days prior to the full conference included farm tours and plant breeding intensive courses.
The final two days were split into information periods that offered three concurrent workshops------ which varied from cutting-edge research to policy and advocacy, trade knowledge and techniques.
One session “Intellectual Property rights and public plant breeding - Opportunity or Oxymoron?” was particularly well attended and thought provoking. It was noted in the session that land grant universities are becoming more restrictive with genetic material transfer because they want to profit from the breeding that’s done there.
Everyone agreed that publicly developed cultivars should be available for public breeding and that farmers should be allowed to save seeds. But how do these breeding programs receive a fair return to continue their activities?
The discussion became a real question and answer period, with many attendees looking for community ethics on how to share and not transgress on someone else’s work. The breeders want a clear path on how to obtain seeds for breeding while respecting the original breeder.
Another session addressed the controversial subject of “Emerging technologies in developing plant varieties.” There are many new gene editing techniques being developed and we are behind in determining if they are compatible with organic or not.
The NOSB developed a framework to help determine which ones should be excluded and have already prohibited many. There are several more yet to be determined.
It was pointed out that organic farmers are already growing crops that were developed early on with prohibited gene editing methods. Belgium endive, brassicas, chickpeas, bush beans, heirloom tomatoes and triticale are examples.
Edith T. Lammerts Van Bueren, a pioneer in research for organic plant breeding and genetic resources, gave the opening keynote address. She pointed out that more and more breeding is focused on traits rather than full Eco-Systems improvement such as natural pest control, soil & water, pollinators and carbon sequestration.
Small crops are getting kicked out of plant breeding programs because they aren’t as profitable. The diversity of what we breed is declining. This is a problem because of the 30,000 edible species in the world we grow only 150 of them and 95 percent of human food calories originate from only 30 crop species
She ended with the thought that “food is the future of mankind and seeds are the very heart of this future.”
The evening trade show overflowed into outside tents and was well suited to the audience. Barley and butternut squash tastings and winnowing machines were proudly displayed.
On Saturday, Congressman Peter DeFazio, a long-time champion of policies that support organic farmers, delivered an impassioned keynote address. He gave updates on the current Farm Bill discussion and urged the organic community to get involved to shape a more sustainable food and farming agenda in Washington, DC.
Organic seed is much more than an input. It’s a living, natural resource that demands careful management to ensure a secure and healthy food supply.
As resources to seed become more consolidated worldwide, this conference offers synergies to focus on generating more diversity in genetics and expanding partners involved in breeding, seed production, and policy advocacy.
Sustaining the organic seed movement is essential to the sustainability of our agricultural system and the very future of our food supply.
