This event is offered by the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security along with partners across the country, including EFAO.

At the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, we work toward a future where farmers have the power to save, improve, and share the seeds they rely on. That means building a seed system rooted in genetic diversity, regional adaptation, and collective care.

Seed systems are complex—shaped by geography, labour, economics, policy, and culture. They involve trade-offs. No single model is perfect. This series is about holding space for nuance, highlighting under-recognized work, and building shared understanding of the systems that feed us.

We invite you to join us—with curiosity and care—as we shine a light behind the packet.

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Open-pollinated (OP) seeds are foundational to seed sovereignty, climate resilience, and food systems grounded in place and culture. Valued for their adaptability, complex flavours, and the freedom they offer to save and share seed, OP varieties remain essential tools for farmers and gardeners navigating a changing world.

Yet behind every thriving OP variety lies a network of dedicated producers, often overlooked and under-supported. As seed companies increasingly pivot toward hybrid development and away from maintaining OP lines, many tried-and-true varieties are being lost. Meanwhile, the farmers and breeders who continue to steward these seeds—often informally or through grassroots networks—are not only preserving diversity but also creating the heirlooms of tomorrow.

Who is ensuring that high-quality OP seed remains available? What does it take—biologically, technically, and economically—to produce and maintain these varieties year after year? Why are so many of them disappearing, and what is at stake if they do?

In this webinar, we’ll explore the complexities and urgency of open-pollinated seed production today. From the hands-on work of seed growers to the systemic forces shaping seed availability, we’ll examine the barriers, possibilities, and values embedded in these seeds—and why their future matters to us all.

Speakers:

• Lisa Mumm of Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds
• Aaron Varadi of High Mowing
• Edmund Frost (Common Wealth Seed Growers and Twin Oaks Seed Farm)