2018 Speakers
Bill McDorman
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Bill McDorman is Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance (RMSA), a grassroots, seed conservation non-profit created to to assure a diverse supply of local seeds through community-based seed stewardship. Bill holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Montana. In 1981 he co-founded Garden City Seeds in Missoula, Montana. In 1984 he started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a bioregional, mailorder seed company he ran successfully for 28 years. From 2011 until 2014 Bill and his wife Belle served as Executive Directors of Native Seeds/SEARCH in Tucson, Arizona. In 2010 they founded Seed School, an internationally recognized program now with more than 1,000 graduates from around the world. They have gone on to create Grain School and Seed School Online.
Seed Literacy for Western Ranchers and Sustainable Farmers
Desert Oasis Teaching Gardens at the Albuquerque Academy
A day-long immersion into the modern seed world. You will learn where your seeds are actually grown and how you can find, test, source, grow, harvest, clean, store and even market the best seeds for your operation—that is, those best adapted to your particular environment. This engaging workshop will touch on the history, structure and growth of the modern seed industry, its extreme centralization, and the worldwide grassroots response offering new opportunities (especially for smaller and mid-sized operations). Learn everything from basic terminology to innovative new strategies to transition your operation with seed-focused and sustainable methods.