Vermont Seed Saver and Producer Survey: 2020 Summary Report

This report summarizes findings from a 2020 survey of seed producers in the state of Vermont. This survey, which was part of a larger research project aimed to characterize Vermont seed systems, aimed to identify areas of opportunity and concern for seed producers across the state. Data collected include types and valued characteristics of planting material produced from food crops in the state, information on motivations, challenges, and preferences that non-commercial and commercial seed producers perceive in their production of planting material, sourcing and distribution of planting material, forms of exchange that exist between seed producers and the community, and demographic data. Seed producers in this survey produce material mostly from open-pollinated and heirloom varieties, produce most commonly as a hobby or leisure activity, are least motivated by economic considerations, are concerned with both environmental and policy challenges to seed systems, anticipate more challenges to production in the future, gift or barter seeds within informal networks, and maintain a high degree of crop diversity. Diverse planting material serves as the basis of resilient, sustainable agriculture, and through this survey, we have found that seed producers maintain this essential resource in their gardens and fields across the state of Vermont. The first report from the Consortium for Crop Genetic Heritage at the University of Vermont, this summary report gives us valuable insight into the goals, actions, and motivations of seed producers in Vermont, which will allow us to focus energy in the future toward strengthening and supporting seed producers and the seed systems they utilize across the state

Seed Producer Motivations for Maintaining Crop Diversity in Vermont

Crop diversity is fundamental to the sustainability of agricultural and ecological systems, especially as climate change imposes new challenges to food production. However, insufficient attention has been placed on its conservation within the United States despite its continued decline. As crop diversity in the US has chiefly been accounted for by crops grown commercially, the conservation of crop diversity that occurs through non-commercial activities such as gardening have been largely ignored. This stems to a great extent from the lack of knowledge surrounding the crop diversity extant within the US, as well as the actors practicing its conservation. Furthermore, the research that has been conducted on crop diversity in the US has principally focused on the economic motivations of producers, which has neglected to consider other factors that span political, environmental, cultural and community-related motivations, all of which have found to be important among producers in other areas of the world. These oversights underscore a need to take a more holistic approach to crop diversity research within the US. Based on 161 responses (63% response rate) received through an online survey among seed producers in Vermont, this paper focuses on seed producers, the crop diversity they maintain in their farms and gardens, and their motivations for doing so. Findings from the survey suggest that seed producers are motivated by a variety of factors, with economic ones being the least considered. Based in the findings that high levels of crop diversity exist in Vermont and that its conservers have myriad motivations, this paper argues that resources exist in Vermont to adapt agricultural production to climate change, but that to leverage those, new ways of examining crop diversity must be pursued. By accounting for crop diversity outside of formal systems, as well as exploring alternative motivations that influence the maintenance of crop diversity, this paper can help work towards this objective as well as facilitate greater interest and investment in crop diversity conservation in Vermont and across the US