Seed Savers Exchange, or SSE, founded by Kent Whealy and Diane Ott Whealy, is a non-profit organization based in Decorah, Iowa, that preserves heirloom plant varieties through regeneration, distribution and seed exchange. The mission of SSE is to preserve the world’s diverse but endangered garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, and educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity. Since 1975, Seed Savers has produced an annual yearbook of members’ seed offerings, as well as multiple editions of The Garden Seed Inventory, and The Fruit, Nut and Berry Inventory. SSE also publishes Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners.
SSE protects crop diversity, which is the biological basis of agriculture. Each year, 1–2% of crop diversity is lost and more than 75% of genetically diverse crops present at the beginning of the 20th century are now gone.[1][2] Plant breeders need heirloom varieties to confer resistance to evolving diseases and pests and to help plants better adapt to global climate change.
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Founded by Kent Whealy and Diane Ott Whealy, SSE has preserved many lines of seeds. The organization has gained more than 13,000 members worldwide, passing on more than one million seed samples and distributing over 20,000 varieties of endangered seeds.
Headquartered in Decorah, Iowa, Seed Savers' Heritage Farm, an 890-acre (3.6 km2) certified organic farm, is called the “most diverse farm in the world” by ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan. At Heritage Farm, more than 25,000 rare fruit, vegetable, and plant varieties are regenerated, refrigerated and preserved in a central collection. A herd of Ancient White Park Cattle is also maintained on the farm. SSE offers educational programs and exhibits through the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center and houses the Robert Becker Memorial Library. The farm is open to visitors from April through December. The annual conference, held the third weekend of July, is open to members and the public.
In December 2007, Seed Savers Exchange made an inaugural deposit of nearly 500 varieties to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault that opened on February 26, 2008 in Svalbard, Norway.[3] The only citizen-led group in the United States to contribute to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault for opening day, SSE intends to send 9,000 seed varieties to the vault by 2012 for safety duplication as part of a global effort to preserve the world’s biodiversity from man-made and natural disasters.[4] The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is under the leadership of Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, and former board member of Seed Savers Exchange.