Seed Saving for a Climate Resilient Food System

Ana Galvis-Martinez, Organic Seed Alliance – Ana Galvis is an educator whose work emphasizes in food justice. Ana is deeply interested in agroecology as strategy to produce nutritious food, conserve natural resources, and strengthen social movements. For over 15 years she has worked within the food justice and food sovereignty movements in Mexico, Colombia, and the U.S., and in the past 6 years her work has been focused on Organic Seed.

Dr. Jared Zystro, Organic Seed Alliancce – Jared Zystro is Organic Seed Alliance’s Director of Programs. Jared has a PhD in plant breeding and has worked in the organic seed industry for over 20 years, managing seed production at two farms and conducting research and education projects with OSA. He currently manages OSA’s research, education and advocacy programs, conducts participatory breeding projects and variety trials, and teaches farmers about seed production and plant breeding at workshops, conferences, and field days.

Joel Johnson, Native Seeds/SEARCH – Joel Johnson is the Farm Manager for Native Seeds/SEARCH, a non-profit seedbank in Tucson, AZ working to preserve and increase access to 1,800+ varieties of desert-adapted crop seeds. Since 2020, Joel and the NS/S team have been re-designing the Conservation Center Farm to maximize rainwater harvesting and climate-smart irrigation systems to ensure healthy seed production while also maintaining arid-adapted traits and working within the limits of the Sonoran Desert region, as the communities who shaped these seed lines have practiced for generations.

Dr. Michael Kotutwa Johnson, Indigenous Resilience Center, The University of Arizona – Michael Kotutwa Johnson is an Indigenous Resiliency Specialist with the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cooperative Extension, and the Indigenous Resilience Center. He is a member of the Hopi Tribe and a traditional dryland farmer. His research focuses on Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Land Use Management schemes related to food, energy, conservation, and water.