Catherine Phillips - Saving More Than Seeds

Practices and Politics of Seed Saving

CATHERINE PHILLIPS

First published 2009 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright Catherine Phillips 2013

Catherine Phillips has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Phillips, Catherine, 1973

ISBN 9781409446514 (hbk)

I am indebted to many for their support and assistance in various stages of this project. I met many passionate, helpful people in the course of researching and writing this book and it is impossible to thank them all individually. But I am grateful for each encounter. Special thanks go to those savers who shared their thoughts and practices, welcoming me into their saving lives and spaces. Without them, this work would not have been possible.

I have benefitted also from ongoing conversations and particular engagements with academic colleagues. For those of you who took the time to discuss ideas with me in conferences and classrooms, corridors and cafes, and over computer lines thank you. I have been fortunate to work with many generous and insightful people in the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research at the University of Wollongong (Australia) and in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University (Canada). Particular thanks go to Liette Gilbert and Lesley Head each of whom supervised my work during different parts of this project. For productive discussions and comments I also thank: Elisabeth Abergel; Jenny Atchison; Chantel Carr; Jen Cypher; Leesa Fawcett; Leah Gibbs; Chris Gibson; Eric Higgs; Brewster Kneen; Cathleen Kneen; Mustafa Koc; Rod MacRae; Megan Salhus; Catriona Sandilands; Leela Viswanathan; and Gordon Waitt. For our work together on seed policy, I am grateful to Brewster Kneen, Devlin Kuyek and Sarah Martin.

Thanks also to seed saving colleagues for enriching my experiences through workshops, conferences, workdays, seed fairs and such. From this diverse group of people and organisations, my gratitude goes especially to savers at the Heirloom Seed Sanctuary, Bob Wildfong at Seeds of Diversity Canada, and the staff of USC Canada, particularly Kate Green, Lise Latremouille, Jane Rabinowicz, Awegetchew Teshome and Susie Walsh. Thanks also to the many participants who came from around the world to share insights about seed sovereignty at the From Seeds of Survival to Seeds of Resilience conference in Ethiopia.

I am also grateful for the financial support this project has received. This project was partially funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council to Lesley Head (FL0992397). In addition, throughout my dissertation studies supplementary funds came through several grants and awards from York University and its Faculty of Environmental Studies.

For generously agreeing to have their photo or graphic published in this book, my appreciation goes to Jen Cypher ().

Finally, I thank Anne and Len whose inspiration and love keep me going; my extended family especially Lynn, Mary, Gord, Brett and Leanne for their unfailing support even in times when their difficulties were far greater; Jen, Laine and Owen for putting up with me, and putting me up; and lastly, Scott for making my world better every day. Thank you.

Earlier iterations of some of the research presented here can be found in:

Phillips, C. 2005. Cultivating practices: saving seed as green citizenship? Environments, 33(3), 3749.

Phillips, C. 2008. Canadas evolving seed regime: Relations of industry, state and seed savers. Environments, 36(1), 518.

In the simple act of planting I was engaged in one of the most universal and certainly one of the most important of all human activities. I share the act of planting and my hope for a harvest with most of the worlds population and with unnumbered previous generations. People must eat. And the chain of production processes that finally delivers food to our mouths long for the New Yorker, short for the Thai peasant begins everywhere with the sowing of the seed.

Jack R. Kloppenburg Jr., First the Seed

When I was a child I engaged in an experiment with my class, an experiment common in grade schools across Canada (perhaps other places too). In the exercise, we took several bean seeds and pressed them against the sides of a glass jar with a moist paper towel. The glass jar was placed in a sunny window. We made sure to keep the paper towel moist, and were rewarded as the miracle of sprouting was slowly and amazingly revealed. I remember that some of the children were surprised and delighted by the idea that plants (and ultimately food) came from seeds. This insight was not news to me.