Program areas at EFN
The Experimental Farm Network Cooperative produced or collected over 500 varieties of heirloom and open-pollinated seeds, intended for sale or free distribution. We managed a collection of over 2,000 rare heirloom vegetable, grain, and herb varieties. We conducted variety trials and plant breeding research on over 100 different species. We performed research in agroecological farming methods and educated members of the public on our work. Over the past year, we continued making advancements on various in-house research projects, including perennial grain sorghum, perennial leaf beets, Chilean pine nuts, strawberries, chinquapin chestnuts, hazelnuts, perennial wheat, perennial rye, and other perennial crops. Customers made 7,812 purchases, a 69% increase from the previous year, through our online store (which has become our primary means of disseminating seeds for breeding projects, research, and to inspire growers to become breeders and researchers themselves), and we also shared free seeds with an estimated 10,000 people through more than 200 local seed hubs (organized through the Cooperative Gardens Commission project which we started in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic).
In 2022, we continued and expanded our work of seed "rematriation" (defined similarly to "repatriation", but using a word that recognizes and honors the role of women as seed-keepers in most traditional societies), which involves identifying and growing seeds connected to a particular historical community, returning regenerated seeds to the communities from which they originally came (and/or individuals living in diaspora), and developing long-term mutually-beneficial relationships with members of those communities, including through offering programmatic support wherever possible. Our most important rematriation success-story involved a collaboration with Native Roots Farm Foundation, a Nanticoke-led organization aiming to revive the agricultural life of the Nanticoke people (indigenous to parts of modern-day Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey) through land conservation and education. In 2022, we expanded access to two types of Nanticoke squash, a winter squash simply known as "Nanticoke Squash" (Cucurbita maxima), and a summer squash known in English as "Maycock" (Cucurbita pepo), from the Nanticoke word for squash, "Macac". This work also has a major educational component, involving teaching others about it in order to inspire and encourage them to undertake similar work (there's no shortage of need for such work).
We attended various farming conferences and other public events, speaking to audiences about our work. We traveled extensively to build relationships with other farmers, plant breeders, and seed growers. For each of these activities, our overarching long-term goal is the development of new crops and growing methods for carbon-sequestration, improved soil health, and ecosystem services.
We serve as fiscal sponsor for three projects related to our core mission, including a lost apple identification project (which seeks to find and identify historically known apple varieties before they are lost), Greenbridge CDC (a Lenape-led organization that works to restore degraded traditional lands of the Lenape people in Delaware), the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library (which preserves critical crop biodiversity from the Fertile Crescent), and a food-share program for new parents led by a community-based farm in Philadelphia (Dirtbaby Farm). We provide oversight of their projects, all of which conducted important charitable work in 2022.