Seed Savers Exchange, or SSE, is a non-profit organization based near

Decorah, Iowa Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,587 at the time of the 2020 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S. Route 52, and is the largest commun ...

, that preserves

heirloom plant An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, heritage fruit (Australia and New Zealand), or heirloom vegetable (especially in Ireland and the UK) is an old cultivar of a plant used for food that is grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers, particular ...

varieties through regeneration, distribution and seed exchange. It is one of the largest nongovernmental

seedbank A seed bank (also seed banks or seeds bank) stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease res ...

s in the United States.. The mission of SSE is to preserve the world’s diverse but endangered garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, and educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity. Since 1975, Seed Savers has produced an annual yearbook of members’ seed offerings, as well as multiple editions of ''The Garden Seed Inventory'', and ''The Fruit, Nut and Berry Inventory''. SSE also publishes ''Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners''. The nonprofit has sold seeds to about 600 retail stores in the United States and Canada.

History

The SSE was founded by Diane Ott Whealy and

Kent Whealy Kent Whealy (April 27, 1946 – March 23, 2018) was an American activist, journalist and philanthropist who co-founded Seed Savers Exchange and promoted organic agriculture and the saving of Heirloom plant, heirloom seeds. Raised in Wellington, ...

in 1975, inspired to protect and preserve heirloom varieties after Diane was bequeathed the seeds of two heirloom plants (a German tomato and a

morning glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...

vine) that her great-grandfather had brought to the U.S. from

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

in 1870. The organization hosted its first seed swap the same year of its founding among thirty gardeners on a six-paged list of seeds. Well-known seed saver

Will Bonsall Will Bonsall is an American author, seed saver and veganic farmer who lives in Maine. He is a regular speaker about seed saving, organic farming and veganic farming. Biography Bonsall was born in Waterville, Maine in 1949. He graduated fr ...

also helped found the organization. SSE began a commercial seed catalog in 2000. Today, it has more than 13,000 members worldwide, passing on more than one million seed samples and distributing over 20,000 varieties of

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

seeds. The SSE publishes a list of members' seeds annually in the ''Seed Savers Yearbook'', complete with a description of the crop and its known history. It is headquartered at the Heritage Farm, located six miles from

. Heritage Farm was originally purchased in 1986. A certified organic farm, Heritage is called the "most diverse farm in the world" by

ethnobotanist Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...

Gary Paul Nabhan Gary Paul Nabhan (born 1952) is an agricultural ecologist, Ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author whose work has focused primarily on the plants and cultures of the desert Southwest. He is considered a pioneer in the local food ...

. At Heritage Farm, more than 25,000 rare fruit, vegetable, and plant varieties are regenerated, refrigerated and preserved in a central collection. It has its own underground seed vault held at below-freezing temperatures. Heritage Farm keeps a historical record of each variety it maintains. A herd of White Park Cattle as well as 900 apple tree varieties are also maintained on the farm. Heritage Farm holds a visitors' center that offers events and classes. In December 2007, Seed Savers Exchange made an inaugural deposit of nearly 500 varieties to the

Svalbard Global Seed Vault The Svalbard Global Seed Vault ( no, Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure backup facility for the world's crop diversity on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The Seed Vault provides long-term stora ...

that opened on February 26, 2008 in

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It was the only citizen-led group in the United States to contribute to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault for opening day.. SSE also has seeds at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation located in

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359 ...

, USA. SSE is involved in a seed donation program for schools and

community gardens A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plo ...

References

External links

*
Seed Savers Documentary
produced by

Iowa Public Television Iowa PBS, formerly Iowa Public Television (IPTV), is a network of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member stations in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is owned by the Iowa Public Broadcasting Board, an agency of the state education department which h ...

{{Authority control Agricultural organizations based in the United States Community seed banks Winneshiek County, Iowa Organizations established in 1975 1975 establishments in Iowa

History

See also

References

External links