SEEDING RESILIENCE: THE IMPACTS OF A SEED-SAVING NETWORK IN WESTERN MONTANA

Abstract

ABSTRACT The practice of saving seed is as old as agriculture, although due to an increasingly industrialized, economically concentrated, and globalized agricultural system, it has dwindled worldwide. Understanding how community-based, seed-saving networks continue to thrive, and their potential impacts, may shed light on the creation of more resilient agro-ecosystems. This inquiry assessed a seed-saving network and its impacts in the Bitterroot and Missoula valleys of western Montana. The guiding question for this inquiry was: How does a local seed-saving network contribute to the social-ecological resilience of the local agro-ecosystem? The main methods of data collection were semistructured interviews and participant observation. We addressed our research question first by defining our network as a “rooted network,” and then by exploring “resilience effects,” or resultant resilience that emerged from actor connections. In conclusion, we reflect how this informal seed-saving network might play vital roles in fostering resilience of local agro-ecosystems now and in the future. Keywords: agro-ecosystem, rooted network, informal seed network, seed-saving, social-ecological system, resilience, Montana.