Seeds of Change (company)

Last updated
Seeds of Change
Type Subsidiary
Founded1989;34 years ago (1989)
FounderGabriel Howearth
Parent Mars, Inc.
Website seedsofchange.com

Seeds of Change is an organic seed and food company owned by Mars, Inc. Until summer 2010, the company was based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and producers of a line of processed organic foods including pasta sauces and salad dressings. Seeds of Change was founded in 1989, as a seed company specializing in organics by Gabriel Howearth and Kenny Ausubel. [1] The company devotes 1% of its net sales toward sustainable organic farming initiatives.

Contents

Research farm (Now Closed)

The Seeds of Change Research Farm and Gardens was founded in 1989 in Gila, New Mexico [2] by Gabriel Howearth. By 1996, the Research Farm moved north to a site closer to the company's Santa Fe offices. The farm included over a thousand varieties of plants on six acres of land originally cultivated by the Tewa people on a flood plain along the Rio Grande in El Guique, New Mexico. The farm was certified organic by Oregon Tilth.[ citation needed ]

In August 2010, Mars announced that it would close the farm and move some management to Los Angeles. A final tour of the farm was provided on Saturday, 14 August, 2010. A spokesperson for Mars indicated the closure was due to a "strategic shift" and that not all the employees would retain their jobs. [3]

1% Fund

In a partnership with Conservation International, Seeds of Change seeks to strengthen and protect traditional shade cropping cabruca cacao cultivation in Brazil. [4] The 1% Fund also supports the Environmental Working Group, the Organic Trade Association, the Organic Center, and the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocoa bean</span> Fatty seed of Theobroma cacao which is the basis of chocolate

The cocoa bean or simply cocoa, also called cacao, is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted. Cocoa beans native to the Amazon rainforest are the basis of chocolate, and Mesoamerican foods including tejate, an indigenous Mexican drink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organic farming</span> Method of agriculture meant to be environmentally friendly

Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming, is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. It originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia. Organic farming continues to be developed by various organizations today. Biological pest control, mixed cropping, and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. Organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally-occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. For instance, naturally-occurring pesticides such as pyrethrin are permitted, while synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are generally prohibited. Synthetic substances that are allowed include, for example, copper sulfate, elemental sulfur, and ivermectin. Genetically modified organisms, nanomaterials, human sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones, and antibiotic use in livestock husbandry are prohibited. Organic farming advocates claim advantages in sustainability, openness, self-sufficiency, autonomy and independence, health, food security, and food safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masanobu Fukuoka</span> Japanese farmer and philosopher (1913–2008)

Masanobu Fukuoka was a Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands. He was a proponent of no-till, herbicide and pesticide free cultivation methods from which he created a particular method of agriculture, commonly referred to as "natural farming" or "do-nothing farming".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable agriculture</span> Farming approach that balances environmental, economic and social factors in the long term

Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem services. There are many methods to increase the sustainability of agriculture. When developing agriculture within sustainable food systems, it is important to develop flexible business process and farming practices. Agriculture has an enormous environmental footprint, playing a significant role in causing climate change, water scarcity, water pollution, land degradation, deforestation and other processes; it is simultaneously causing environmental changes and being impacted by these changes. Sustainable agriculture consists of environment friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural systems. It involves preventing adverse effects to soil, water, biodiversity, surrounding or downstream resources—as well as to those working or living on the farm or in neighboring areas. Elements of sustainable agriculture can include permaculture, agroforestry, mixed farming, multiple cropping, and crop rotation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organic movement</span>

The organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion of organic food and other organic products. It started during the first half of the 20th century, when modern large-scale agricultural practices began to appear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No-till farming</span> Agricultural method which does not disturb soil through tillage.

No-till farming is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certain soils, especially in sandy and dry soils on sloping terrain. Other possible benefits include an increase in the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil, soil retention of organic matter, and nutrient cycling. These methods may increase the amount and variety of life in and on the soil. While conventional no-tillage systems use herbicides to control weeds, organic systems use a combination of strategies, such as planting cover crops as mulch to suppress weeds.

Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources such as biotechnology, farms, food, forestry, fisheries, fuel, and fiber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KASA-TV</span> Telemundo TV station in Santa Fe, New Mexico

KASA-TV, branded on-air as Telemundo Nuevo México, is a television station licensed to Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, serving the Albuquerque area and most of the state as an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish-language Telemundo network. KASA-TV's studios are located on Monroe Street NE in Albuquerque; its transmitter is located on Sandia Crest, with translators in much of the state and southwestern Colorado extending its signal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vertical farming</span> Practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers

Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. It often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth, and soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics. Some common choices of structures to house vertical farming systems include buildings, shipping containers, tunnels, and abandoned mine shafts. As of 2020, there is the equivalent of about 30 ha of operational vertical farmland in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agroecology in Latin America</span> Agroecological practices in Latin America

Agroecology is an applied science that involves the adaptation of ecological concepts to the structure, performance, and management of sustainable agroecosystems. In Latin America, agroecological practices have a long history and vary between regions but share three main approaches or levels: plot scale, farm scale, and food system scale. Agroecology in Latin American countries can be used as a tool for providing both ecological, economic, and social benefits to the communities that practice it, as well as maintaining high biodiversity and providing refuges for flora and fauna in these countries. Due to its broad scope and versatility, it is often referred to as "a science, a movement, a practice."

The environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices. The environmental impact of agriculture varies widely based on practices employed by farmers and by the scale of practice. Farming communities that try to reduce environmental impacts through modifying their practices will adopt sustainable agriculture practices. The negative impact of agriculture is an old issue that remains a concern even as experts design innovative means to reduce destruction and enhance eco-efficiency. Though some pastoralism is environmentally positive, modern animal agriculture practices tend to be more environmentally destructive than agricultural practices focused on fruits, vegetables and other biomass. The emissions of ammonia from cattle waste continue to raise concerns over environmental pollution.

The Student Sustainable Farm at Rutgers is located at Rutgers' Horticultural Research Station in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on the G. H. Cook campus of Rutgers University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural farming</span> Sustainable farming approach

Natural farming, also referred to as "the Fukuoka Method", "the natural way of farming", or "do-nothing farming", is an ecological farming approach established by Masanobu Fukuoka (1913–2008). Fukuoka, a Japanese farmer and philosopher, introduced the term in his 1975 book The One-Straw Revolution. The title refers not to lack of effort, but to the avoidance of manufactured inputs and equipment. Natural farming is related to fertility farming, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, agroecology, agroforestry, ecoagriculture and permaculture, but should be distinguished from biodynamic agriculture.

The environmental impact of cocoa production includes deforestation, soil contamination, and herbicide resistance. The majority of cocoa farms are now located in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Kenny Ausubel is a social entrepreneur, investigative journalist, and award-winning filmmaker. He launched the annual National Bioneers Conference in 1990 with Nina Simons. He has received the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s Challenge Award as well as awards from the Rainforest Action Network and Global Green, among others. He emphasizes the interdependence of all things, and the need to use nature's own diversity, kinship, community, cooperation and reciprocity in finding the urgently needed solutions to environmental and human crises.

Nina Simons is a co-founder & co-CEO of Bioneers, and an organizer of women's leadership retreats and trainings. Her book Nature, Culture & the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership (2018) received the 2018 Nautilus Gold Award in the "Women" category and Silver Award in the "Social Change & Social Justice: category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holistic management (agriculture)</span> Agricultural technique

Holistic Management in agriculture is an approach to managing resources that was originally developed by Allan Savory for grazing management. Holistic Management has been likened to "a permaculture approach to rangeland management". Holistic Management is a registered trademark of Holistic Management International.

Howard-Yana Shapiro is a senior advisor for the Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and its initiative Resilient Landscapes and a Senior Fellow in the Plant Sciences department at the University of California, Davis.

Stephen Mills Badger II is an American businessman, venture capitalist and documentary producer. He is currently a General Partner at The March Group, a food, health and sustainability venture capital firm based in Davis, California and Hong Kong.

Regenerative cacao is defined as cacao that is produced on a farm that employs regenerative agriculture and agroforestry methods. It is most closely associated with the Ecuadorian chocolate company To’ak, the organic food supplier Navitas, the rainforest conservation organization TMA, and the social-agricultural enterprise Terra Genesis. Cacao is the raw material that is used to produce chocolate.

References

  1. "Seeds of Change features spectacular zinnia". Deseret News. 22 November 2004. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. "Faith in a seed". The Albuquerque Tribune. 12 October 2001.
  3. Dyer, Jessica (August 14, 2010). "Organic Seed Firm To Relocate". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  4. "Conservation Groups Join Forces To Promote Environmentally Sustainable Cacao Industry". Science Daily. 20 March 2007.