Seed keepers
Carry seed as a cultural and often tribal life path, holding varieties and their stories across generations.
The Coalition
All hands on deck.
Who we are
A movement, not an institution.
The Local Seeds Coalition is a steering committee pooling resources and common purpose across seed communities and nonprofits, fiscally sponsored by IFOAM North America. Our mission is to raise public awareness of the role seeds play in our food systems, and to support a thriving, community-powered movement centered on local, regionally adapted, and culturally meaningful seed.
There is no hierarchy to this. Seed keepers, stewards, growers, and enthusiasts all have a place, working through the life cycle of the seed and our relationships to it.
No hierarchy to this
Keepers, stewards, growers, enthusiasts.
Seed stewards
Put deep care into the whole life cycle, tending how the seed connects to people, land, and everything downstream.
Seed growers
Work the seed through its life cycle, from planting to harvest and back to seed again.
Seed enthusiasts
Support the work from any distance. No profession or title is required to belong here.
The team
Who is building this.
- Kia RuizDirector + Education and Campaign
- Julia DakinDevelopment
- Chanda Robinson BanksEngagement, Outreach, and Cultural Conversations
- David GouldStandards
- Melanie LevyResearch & Support
- Funders
- Advisors
- Partner Organizations
93
interviews across 29 US states and 8 countries.
44
written survey responses from seed workers.
2025
a year of listening, gathering, and synthesis.
Behind the lens
About the photographer.
Many of the photographs here are by Marcos Cortez Bacilio, who trains farmers in Guerrero, Mexico to reclaim Indigenous corn varieties through ancestral selection techniques.
In the hills near Acapulco, where Hurricane Otis flattened entire fields, those farmers save seed from shorter, wind-resilient maize that can withstand the storms to come. It is regional adaptation, photographed as it happens.
Follow his work →
The map of involvement
See yourself on it.
Interactive map · in development
Seed companies, libraries, keepers, and partners, plotted as the coalition grows.
There is a place for you.
Save seed, grow for market, run a library, fund the work, or simply care about good food. The coalition has room for your hands.
Get involved →