Written by: Margarita Cherkashyna
The World Through the Eyes of Seeds of Diversity
Interviewee Name: Bob Wildfong
Role: Executive Director
Organization: Seeds of Diversity Canada
Interviewed by: Margarita
Bob Wildfong is the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization – Seeds of Diversity. He has been a member of this organization since 1988 and became its first executive director in 2002. Also, Bob is a past president of the Culinary Historians of Canada. By mixing science and history, he saves and teaches about garden biodiversity for over 25 years. Moreover, Bob has experience teaching food history at the Waterloo Region Museum and is even a member of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. Thus, I decided to interview Bob because of his passion for agriculture and saving seeds that inspire me.
The Interview:
Q: Tell us about your organization? What do you do?
A: The organization is called Seeds of Diversity, which is a seed-saving organization where people all across Canada save seeds from the plants and the gardens. There are a lot of kinds of plants that are rare and hard to find. So if no one grows and preserves these seeds, there will be no food in the future. For example, there are many different types of latus that you can’t find at the grocery store because not everyone knows about their existence since they are rare and harder to find. Thus, this organization is here to make sure that those seeds keep growing and not disappear.
Q: What is YOUR role in the organization?
A: The executive director is the person who runs the organization and has diverse duties. On some days, Bob has to organize all the seeds and the people who grow and care for them, go outside and make sure the job is done right. On other days, however, there are other less fun duties like taking care of finances, paying telephone bills, and ‘it’s basically like running a business,’ says Bob.
Q: Why do you work in agriculture?
A: Bob used to have a job in the office that was not so appealing during the summertime because he enjoys the outdoors and nature. However, he did not want to work outside all the time, including in the winter. Thereby, he found this job – executive director of Seeds of Diversity where he can do both office duties and help outdoors.
Q: Why are you passionate about this particular position?
A: “I get to do something different all the time,” as Bob mentioned earlier, it can be financial and business-related duties one day and growing the plants on the other. He also communicates with other farmers, scientists and other organizations that are passionate about farming. Thus, the work is never tedious, and he gets to do something different every day.
Q: What degree / experience did you get to get this job?
A: Bob got his job simply by volunteering for a non-profit organization that has more volunteers than actual employees. Thus, it is a good way to participate in community life. While volunteering, you gain more skills and knowledge about how things work, and when a job becomes available, you can get it. However, Bob says that it would be helpful if the schools had some more knowledge of agriculture. “Experience and volunteering are the keys to promoting and gaining knowledge.”
Q: What changes do you think you are making to the community as you work in this area?
A: The organization helps farmers across the country conserve different types of seeds that people would not otherwise have stored, which has a future advantage as we have more options for food to grow and consume. Also, in the local area of Cambridge, Waterloo, Seeds of Diversity has a school garden project where they are directly helping teachers and kids to learn about agriculture and get a hands-on connection with the community. “Kids are so surprised and happy when pulling out the carrot from the ground! And I think every child should have that experience.”
Q: How has the organization’s life changed due to COVID-19? How has this influenced you as an executive director?
A: Seeds of Diversity was lucky because all the work was already remote, which means they had farmers all over the country growing seeds and collecting more and then sending them back. Since the schools are closed, the cultivation of food in the garden has been stopped, and there was no communication with others in person. Yet, other than that, there have been no major changes in the organization.
Q: How does your organization deal with the financial situation during these difficult times?
A: There are no financial changes, and what they did two years ago, they can do now.
Q: What progress do you think your organization has made? How long did it take to get there?
A: Within around 30 years of the organization existing a lot of things have changed. Seeds of Diversity started with a couple of people realizing that some seeds are rare and harder to find. Now, there are a lot more people involved and interested in issues. Technological advances help spread information online, build websites, and show people seeds and other information that gets more attention and helps people find their passion.
Q: What do YOU as an executive director do to keep your organization moving forward?
A: Bob makes sure the people who work for this organization are passionate about their work and do the job properly by growing the seeds in the right conditions. Also, as mentioned earlier, he controls financial business and communicates with other organizations to make progress.
Q: How can you ensure the safety/quality of the seeds you collect and the food they will grow?
A: “There are living plants inside the seeds, and if they don’t get planted after a few years, they will die” the seeds are grown correctly and stored in proper conditions and people that are participating know what they are doing. Also, the seeds are stored very dry to last a long time and make sure they grow in time for the suppliers.
Q: Tell us about your books “How to save your own seeds” & “Every seed tells a tale.” Why are they worth buying?
A: “It’s not difficult to grow seeds – you just need to know how.”
Both books are practical on how to save your seeds that rely on all volunteers to know how to make good quality seeds from their gardens. Thus, these books help to coach other people on how to save rare seeds. Bob also adds that they give presentations in workshops for community gardens and sell online copies of the books, but paper copies sell best, says Bob.
Q: Tell us about ‘the garlic collection’ on the website?
A: Garlic has special seeds that grow differently from others, which requires more knowledge to make sure that conditions are right. Since garlic can’t just be left to wait to be grown and needs to be taken care of right away, they always need to make sure that they have enough space for different garlic to grow. The Seeds of Diversity has 60 kinds of garlic in their collection that different in sizes, shapes and levels of spiciness. Moreover, they have two copies of this collection, in case the weather gets bad and they lose some garlic. Thus, they always know that they still have these seeds.
Every year they harvest the garlic, take 60 brown paper lunch bags and put the seeds inside for each type. After planting, the leftovers are usually sold locally or exchanged for other seeds or used on Seedy Saturdays to reach as many people as possible.
Q: Tell us about ‘Seedy Saturdays’, what do you do and what makes it special?
A: The Seedy Saturday is an event that is held in approximately 150 communities across Canada every winter. A seed shows where people sell seeds, the plants, the hosts will tell you about the different seeds and how to grow them, and show you the sprouts in the garden and tell you about them. Thereby, people come here to learn something about agriculture and buy seeds. However, the Seeds of Diversity does not organize this event. There are just many communities that agree on doing it and keep doing it every year. They have the same idea and format but yet all completely independent and unique.
Q: Where do you get inspiration for new projects like the one mentioned in the previous question?
A: Many people support and participate in the Seeds of Diversity program with new ideas and projects. People just share their thoughts on how to improve the situation, and if the idea is supported by others and realistic to make, it happens.
Q: What plans do you have for the future?
A: “Like everybody, we want to get back to in-person things that we did before,” says Bob. Apart from that, the organization wants to extend the school food programs from local areas to further places. Especially after it turned out that there are schools that would like to work with Seeds of Diversity, which means that the goal is achievable after the schools will open. Also, to make it easier to find new people and spread information, they will use technologies by promoting a website where they post all the information and progress on saving seeds.
Q: Are there any words or tips you would like to share with people interested in working in your area?
A: “People don’t realize that modern farmers have to know a lot of science, business and finance stuff,” says Bob. There is so much more than just planting in agriculture – it’s a wide and diverse place where everyone can find an opportunity to help and learn about different things. The message from Bob is that if you are personally very interested in a particular subject, you can always connect it to agriculture. “Food is a huge thing,” it involves many people that are interested in different things but are all connected by agriculture around the world. Start by looking at all the different possibilities of how to get into that system because there is a tone of opportunities, where one of them might be for you.
In conclusion, agriculture is a diverse place where everyone can find their passion. Don’t be afraid of challenges on your way, and if you are truly passionate about your work, like Bob, then you will achieve all the goals that are set for you right now in this area.
Watch the video interview here