Abstract Detail

Crops and Wild Relatives

Kur, Andi [1], von Wettberg, Eric [2], Guo, June [3], Tobin, Daniel [4], Reynolds, Travis [3].

Seed System Diversity and Resilience in New Vermont Farming Communities.

High quality seed and crop diversity are critical to food security, climate adaptation, and farm system resilience; however, we have a poor understanding of the hierarchy of decisions that farmers make to select seeds that may or may not be culturally and ecologically appropriate. This project seeks to contribute to this understanding though a mixed-methods investigation of an understudied seed system: Vermont-based refugee farming communities. In this system, we examine the consequences of seed access and crop diversity, focusing on refugees supported by the local community organization, New Farms for New Americans (NFNA). Our approach includes (a) undertaking field-based argo-ecological surveys using Genotyping-by-Sequencing to explore the seed diversity currently planted by new Vermont famers and (b) providing preliminary estimates of key ecosystem services by measuring (i) the nitrogen and water use efficiency of different varieties of maize and beans with stable isotopes and (ii) the diversity of associated invertebrate communities among these crops in new American farming settings. Results of this investigation will form the baseline for a multi-year study, allowing us to comprehensively depict the ecological consequences of seed access and seed choice in Vermont-based refugee farming communities and ultimately lay the foundation for potential seed and information systems to support resilience in these farming communities.

1 - University of Vermont, Plant and Soil Science, Room 117 Jeffords Hall , 63 Carrigan Dr., Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA
2 - University of Vermont, Plant and Soil Science, Room 117 Jeffords Hall, 63 Carrigan Dr., Burlington, Vermont, 05405, US
3 - University of Vermont, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, Morrill Hall, 146 University Place, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA
4 - University of Vermont, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, Morrill Hall, 146 University Place, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, US

Keywords:
Seed systems
food security
agroecology
agroecosystem diversity
farm resilience.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Crops and Wild Relatives Posters
Location: Arizona Ballroom/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PCW009
Abstract ID:543
Candidate for Awards:None