Sowing Strength: It all Starts with The Seed

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 | 9am -4pm

Hosted by: EcoFarm and the Organic Seed Alliance

Seeds are so powerful! From a tiny kernel, they germinate, grow, blossom, produce food, and then reproduce themselves. In an immersive day about seed, we will focus on the details of this reproduction with segments about how to produce the highest quality organic seed in the context of a farm or garden of any scale.

Issues around resilience to climate change, sharing seed in community seed banks and importance of seed production for reducing risk and preserving diversity will also be covered by presenters with decades of experience and multi-faceted perspectives on this vibrant and fundamental topic.

What to Expect

  • 9 - 9:45 a.m.

    Led by Zea Sonnabend, EcoFarm Planning Committee, Watsonville, CA.

  • 9 - 9:45 a.m.

    Speaker: Emigdio Ballon, Traditional Agricultural Consultant,, Espanola, NM

    Emigdio Ballón carries a sacred responsibility shaped by a lifetime of devotion to plants, land, and people. Practicing agriculture since childhood and now in his eighth decade of life, he has spent more than seventy years in relationship with seeds — learning from elders, fields, and ecosystems across generations.

    Trained at the highest levels of plant science and nearly completing his PhD, Emigdio is also a respected researcher whose published studies on amaranth, quinoa, and other climate-resilient crops bridge rigorous science with ancestral agricultural knowledge. His work demonstrates that seed saving is both a cultural duty and a practical strategy for climate adaptation, food security, and farmer resilience.

    Rooted in humility and service, Emigdio teaches that seeds are living relatives carrying memory, intelligence, and responsibility. His life’s work ensures that this knowledge remains practiced, protected, and shared — sustaining both ecosystems and communities into the future.

  • 9:45 - 10:15 a.m.

    Speaker: Jared Zystro, Organic Seed Alliance, Arcata, CA

  • 10:15 - 10:45 a.m.

    Speaker: Steve Peters, Seed rEvolution Now, Oregon

  • 10:45 - 11:30 a.m.

    Speakers:

    Rosie Reynolds, Eel River Produce, Eureka, CA

    Steve Sprinkel, The Farmer and the Cook, Ojai, CA

    TBA

  • 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

    Speakers:

    Rosie Reynolds, Eel River Produce, Eureka, CA

    Jared Zystro, Organic Seed Alliance, Arcata, CA

  • 1:15 - 2:00 p.m.

    Speakers:

    Val Davis, California Certified Organic Farmers, Santa Cruz, CA

    Andrew Still, Adaptive Seed, Sweet Home, OR

    TBA

  • 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

    Speakers:

    Rosie Reynolds, Eel River Produce, Eureka, CA

    Jared Zystro, Organic Seed Alliance

  • 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.

    Speakers:

    Aaron Varadi, High Mowing Seed, Vermont

    Steve Sprinkel, The Farmer and the Cook, Ojai, CA

    Andrew Still, Adaptive Seed, Sweet Home, OR

    TBA

  • 4:00 - 4:45 p.m.

    Speakers:

    Lauren Buffaloe Muscatine, Napa County Seed Library, Napa, CA

    Rebecca Newburn, Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library, Richmond, CA