Seed Company Adapts Organic Seeds

Seed Company Adapts Organic Seeds CROPS Miscellaneous Zachary Paige’s quest to preserve culturally important crops for people from many cultures in Minnesota and nearby states continues Vol 46 No 3 The focus on preserving and marketing Latino heritage seeds will be made easier with a couple of pieces of equipment purchased with an NCR-SARE grant North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program Three growers including Paige are already growing peppers and corn and selectively breeding plants to save seeds with open-sourced genetics A 4-row corn planter to grow White Dent Rustler Corn and a food-grade corn sheller will assist in growing and processing corn that can be made into tortillas masa and elote Drying racks will be useful for Paige’s North Circle Seeds business which will offer about 85 organic varieties in 2024 “Most companies are just packing seeds from other growers What makes our seed company unique is we source our seeds from Minnesota and a few from Wisconsin and customers know the seeds are reliable and support local farmers ” Paige says “My mission with the seed company is to support the food system of diverse communities living in Minnesota We should be supplying foods of their culture so we’re adapting seeds to grow here ” Paige says In addition to Latino corn peppers and garlic his varieties include seeds from other cultures Zebra and Simeon’s white eggplant and collards are African favorites There’s also Ethiopian kale Hmong long beans Ukrainian squash and Asian greens “My strategy is to ask what the most important vegetable variety is for them and together we’ll tackle and work on adapting and selling that seed in Minnesota on one plant variety at a time ” Paige says “With all the seeds it’s about telling the story of the seed and highlighting the growers ” It’s also important to help growers add value to the crops they grow by turning them into products to sell and/or save seeds to sell to other growers Paige is working with the University of Minnesota to create short educational videos about saving seeds from vegetables grown in the state He also offers workshops and presentations covering all aspects of breeding growing and saving seeds Check out his website for a complete list of open-pollinated seeds along with varieties that have been crossed with hybrids which produce seeds that can be replanted Contact: FARM SHOW Followup North Circle Seeds Zachary Paige 26253 485th St Vergas Minn 56587 zachary@northcircleseeds com; www northcircleseeds com

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