Indigenous Seed Keeping and Agriculture Education Program
Partnering with Indigenous communities and initiatives to create learning opportunities for Indigenous people to learn and reclaim cultural seed keeper and agriculture teachings and skills
about
The passing-down of Indigenous seed keeping and agriculture practices and teachings across generations has been impacted by historical and ongoing colonization. Sovereign Seeds' Indigenous Seed Keeping and Agriculture Education Program works to help cultivate more culturally-guided seed keepers and food leaders in our communities and nurture current and future food Knowledge Holders. We partner with Indigenous communities and initiatives to develop and deliver tailored and culturally-rooted seed keeper and cultural agriculture training and learning opportunities. Education can take a number of in-person and online formats, including webinars, workshops, facilitated online courses, gatherings, and others.
eligibility
Our program offerings are available to any Indigenous community or Indigenous-led initiative in all rural and urban and on- and off-reserve contexts across the country. Due to our mission and funding partnerships, and with respect for existing peer organizations already doing this work in the US, Indigenous education partners located within Canada are our first priority. We recognize that the colonial Canada-US border crosses many communities and nations, and we partner with as many communities and groups as we are able to.
We do not deliver education programming to non-Indigenous audiences. Please do not complete our education request form if you are not seeking education partnership with/on behalf of an Indigenous community or Indigenous-led initiative.
sample curriculum topics
Planning food and seed gardens and cultural planting teachings
Seed ethics and protocol creation
Cultural variety breeding and climate adaptation
Pollination principles and variety preservation
Seed and food harvesting, storage, and processing
Community visioning and starting or scaling a food or seed initiative
Record keeping and seed and knowledge assessments
Soil and pollinator health
Animal husbandry with cultural practices and values
