Thank you to all who have submitted proposals! The submission period is now closed.
We’re excited to announce the call for proposals for the 2025 Organic Seed Growers Conference! This conference will be offered as a hybrid event with the in-person gathering to be held February 26 – March 1, 2025, at Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR. eOrganic will be hosting live webinars from the event in addition to other virtual offerings hosted on Organic Seed Commons.
You don’t need to be a researcher or academic to submit a proposal for the conference. Farmers, practitioners, and seed stewards of all kinds are also valued as co-creators of this gathering by and for agroecological seed communities.
Request for Proposals and Invitation to Participate
The conference organizers invite you to help shape the 12th Organic Seed Growers Conference by providing input for the agenda. This is an opportunity to share important skills and research, and ask timely questions related to organic seed. The conference is the largest organic seed event in the U.S. and will have both in-person and online components, providing a five-day agenda of workshops, demonstrations, farm tours, lightning talks, art, regional/topical/affinity synergy spaces, keynote presentations, and celebration. We welcome your proposals and suggestions.
We are particularly interested in proposals that include growers from Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and LGBTQIA+ seed communities.
While we welcome a diversity of proposals, those that fit the following categories are encouraged:
Proposals that include:
- Seed grower presenter or seed grower included on panel
- Racial diversity among presenter(s) or panelists
- Presenters from a diversity of agricultural backgrounds / approaches
- Opportunities for audience interaction
- Building equity and justice in organic seed communities
- Policy and advocacy focused on seed equity and justice
- Methods for building community and access beyond the conference cycle
- Nuts and bolts of growing seed, conducting variety trials, and/or plant breeding (e.g. field practices, seed cleaning, and/or processing, packing, and sales)
Topics that reflect ongoing conference priorities with an emphasis on outcomes for seed growers and communities:
- Nuts and bolts of growing seed, conducting variety trials, and/or plant breeding (e.g. field practices, seed cleaning, and/or processing, packing, and sales). Proposals that are geared towards beginning producers and experienced producers are both encouraged.
- Building equity and justice in organic seed communities
- Policy and advocacy focused on seed equity and justice
- Advancements in organic plant breeding
- Breeding for resiliency and biodiversity, including to mitigate the impacts of climate change
- Grower-led and participatory breeding projects
- New models for organic seed production, quality assurance, enterprise development, and commercializing new varieties (e.g., alternative approaches to intellectual property)
- Understanding the economics of seed production
- Timely and emerging policy and advocacy topics that are essential to expanding organic seed systems and that are in need of more clarity, strategy, and discussion
- First-person seed stories from a diversity of perspectives and communities, especially encouraged from growers of historical and contemporary culturally significant crops and/or varieties.
- Emergent topics related to current events
Due Date
Proposals and submissions due by July 19, 2024.
Past Proceedings
Past proceedings are available here.
Session Type Descriptions and Expectations
Long Sessions (Peer-Reviewed)
Proposals for Peer-Reviewed Sessions will be evaluated and chosen by a review committee with diverse representation from organic seed communities. There are four types of sessions in this category: 1) Panel Discussion, 2) Roundtable, and 3) Presentation of Research.
These proposals will be evaluated by the conference proposal committee based on their importance to seed communities and their ability to address the conference’s priority categories, audience, and topics.
Short Sessions (Open Submission)
The conference committee is also inviting Open Submissions to be included in the conference. All submissions that fall within the Organic Seed Commons Community Guidelines will be accepted and some Open Submissions may be selected by the conference committee to be featured as part of the conference agenda and programming. There are four types of sessions in this category: 1) Research Poster, 2) Demonstration/Farm Tour, 3) Lightning Talk, and 4) Works of Art.
Thank you to all who have submitted proposals! The submission period is now closed.
Solicitud de Propuestas e Invitación a Participar
¡Gracias a todos los que han enviado propuestas! El plazo de presentación ya está cerrado.
Ayúdenos a darle forma a la agenda de la conferencia 2025 compartiendo sus aportes y sugerencias con el comité de planificación de la conferencia. ¡Apreciamos su aporte!. Esta es una oportunidad para compartir importantes habilidades e investigaciones, y hacer preguntas pertinentes relacionadas con las semillas orgánicas. La conferencia es el evento de semillas orgánicas más grande en los EE. UU. y tendrá componentes tanto presenciales como en línea, brindando una agenda de cinco días de talleres, demostraciones, salidas de campo, charlas sobre temas significativos, arte, espacios de sinergia regional/temática/afinidad, conferencias magistrales. presentaciones y celebración. Agradecemos sus propuestas y sugerencias.
Estamos particularmente interesados en propuestas que incluyan productores de semillas de comunidades afrodescendientes, indígenas, de color y LGBTQIA+.
Si bien damos la bienvenida a una diversidad de propuestas, se recomiendan aquellas que se ajusten a las siguientes categorías:
- Construcción de equidad y justicia en las comunidades interesadas en semillas orgánicas
- Políticas y defensa de la semilla orgánica centradas en la equidad y la justicia
- Métodos para construir comunidad y brindar acceso más allá del ciclo de la conferencia a través de nueva plataforma virtual Organic Seed Commons
- Aspectos prácticos del cultivo de semillas, realización de ensayos de variedades y/o fitomejoramiento (por ejemplo, prácticas de campo, limpieza y/o procesamiento, empaque y venta de semillas)
- Temas emergentes relacionados con la actualidad
- Avances en fitomejoramiento orgánico
- Fitomejoramiento para la resiliencia y la biodiversidad, incluyendo aspectos relacionados con el impacto del cambio climático
- Projectos de fitomejoramiento participativo y liderados por agricultorxs
- Nuevos modelos para la producción de semillas orgánicas, sistemas de garantía de calidad, desarrollo empresarial y comercialización de nuevas variedades (por ejemplo, enfoques alternativos a la propiedad intelectual)
- Entendimiento de aspectos económicos de la producción de semillas
- Temas actuales y emergentes de defensa y políticas que son esenciales para expandir los sistemas de semillas orgánicas y que necesitan más claridad, estrategia y discusión.
- Historias personales relacionadas con semillas que traen diversidad de perspectivas y comunidades. Centrados especialmente en productores(as) de cultivos y/o variedades de importancia histórica y cultural
Fecha límite para envío de propuestas:
Las propuestas y presentaciones deben enviarse antes del 19 de julio de 2024.
¡Gracias a todos los que han enviado propuestas! El plazo de presentación ya está cerrado.
