Upcoming Events

Seeds, Food and Climate Resilience Seminar

Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Time: 3:00 PM-5:00 PM
Location: 2017 Dunton Tower, Carleton University, Ottawa (ON), or online via zoom.

Registration is required.

Genetically diverse seeds, developed and maintained by Indigenous peoples and farmers over thousands of years, live at the heart of our food systems. The diversity embodied in seed and food system diversity are also key to resilience in the face of a deepening climate emergency. This seminar will explore the importance of seed and food system diversity in the face of climate change. Discussion will focus on the steps we can all take, in both policy and practice, as Indigenous Nations, NGOs, governments, farmers, and researchers, to maintain and strengthen this vital connection between people and the more-than-human world we are part of.

Featuring speakers from each of these communities, this seminar is also the Ottawa launch of the Earth to Table Legacies book, an intergenerational and intercultural exchange of knowledges and practices of food sovereignty.

A panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A.

Discussion topics will include:

  • Indigenous seed and food sovereignty
  • Seed diversity in Canada and the Global South
  • Farming and climate change
  • Aid policy for strengthening food system resilience

Host: Larry McDermott, Executive Director, Plenty Canada
Chair: Peter Andrée, Department of Political Science, Carleton University

Panelists:
Leticia Ama Deawuo, Executive Director, SeedChange
Nikki Auten, First Nations Technical Institute, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
Jill Guerra, Global Affairs Canada
Katie Ward, OurFarmCSA

Sponsors:

Carleton Centre for Community Innovation (3ci)
SeedChange
Earth to Tables Legacies project
Participatory Food Systems Governance Project

Register here

Past Events

Ironwood Organics: Growing the Grain

This event will be offered in both English and French*, and is being hosted in partnership with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO), the regional host organization for The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security.
Venue: Ironwood Organics
446 Lower Oak Leaf Road
Athens, ON K0E 1B0 Canada + Google Map
Chris Wooding has been growing small grains in Athens, Ontario, with the mission to be a leader in growing nutrient-dense heritage grains while supporting a strong baking and brewing community.
 
He has bred and produced multiple varieties of regionally-adapted winter and spring wheat, rye, oats, barley, and buckwheat. Some he grows on three acres, some on a quarter acre, and some are only 10g seed-banks-sized plots!
 
With his vast technical knowledge – and plenty of small grains equipment – learning from Chris’s successes and challenges will give new small grain growers a head start on their journey and seasoned growers some new and innovative ideas.
 
Join Chris for a full-day farm tour to see his crops growing and explore new and exciting ideas for growing, managing, marketing, and using various small grains.
Ticket(s) for this event can be purchased here: https://efao.ca/event/ironwood-organics-growing-the-grain/
* The Quebec Regional Coordinator for the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, Hugo Martorell, will offer in-person French translation for this event.
Purchase Ticket(s) Here

Quebec Field Trips (Summer 2023)

With the summer months upon us, SeedChange and The Bauta Family Initiative have another exciting field visit season underway.

If you are in Quebec, or plan on visiting this summer, we are making several trips to farms across the province, and we’d love for you to join us to learn more about organic farming and seed production.

The following is a list of upcoming field visit days* (details about each visit are provided, in French, via the Eventbrite links):

* Please note that all upcoming field visits will be guided in the French language.

Feminist Agroecologies Webinar

Women farmers, particularly in Indigenous communities, have a crucial role as food producers and seed guardians. However, women worldwide face infringements on their rights and have significantly less access to resources and services, while their decision-making power is often restricted by patriarchal norms.

For these reasons, women are also disproportionately affected by climate change and the economic pressures facing smallholder and Indigenous communities.

This session will feature women seed guardians and activists from Turtle Island and East Africa.

This webinar is presented by York University’s Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change in partnership with SeedChange.

March 23rd, 2023

Watch the recording

The Praxis of Agroecology Webinar

This webinar will delve deeper into the topic of agroecology, a movement, science and practice that has been widely recognized for its importance for local, biodiverse food production and for climate adaptation. Agroecology is considered a crucial alternative to the industrial agriculture model by peasant movements around the world.

The session will explore what agroecology looks like on the ground, its relation with food sovereignty and land struggles, what kind of movement training and mobilizing is making it happen, and resistance to its co-optation as it gains momentum.

This webinar is presented by York University’s Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change in partnership with SeedChange.

March 2nd, 2023

Watch the recording

Seeds of Survival Webinar

This online webinar will bring together seed security and seed sovereignty practitioners from around the world to discuss current work to support farmer seed systems. This event is a partnership with Coady Institute.

February 28th – March 1st, 2023

Details

Intellectual Property Regimes, Seed Laws & Farmers’ Rights – Online Seminar

This session will provide an overview on Farmers’ Rights and seed laws, and speakers will explore the state of corporate control over seeds and the impact on food systems, laws and intellectual property regimes facilitating the expansion of agribusiness, and how peasant movements are mobilizing with alternatives in Latin America and West Africa. 

February 9th 12:30-2:30 EST

Watch the recording

Indigenous Perspectives on Seed Sovereignty – Online seminar

In this panel, Indigenous seed keepers, activists and scholars will discuss the importance of seeds and biodiversity in Indigenous food systems, and share their work strengthening Indigenous Seed Sovereignty. This event is presented by York University’s Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, SeedChange and York’s Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages.

January 19th, 2023

Watch the recording