PARTNERSHIPS

The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security is a program of SeedChange. SeedChange (formerly known as USC Canada) is one of Canada’s longest standing charitable organizations. SeedChange’s mission is to build food sovereignty by working with farmers and partners to enhance biodiversity, promote ecological agriculture, and counter inequity. SeedChange works with over 40,000 farmers across Canada and in 11 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to support farmer-led innovation, and promote agro-ecological farming.

SeedChange launched The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security in 2013. Consistent with SeedChange’s core philosophy of delivering programming with established partners, our program is built on strong regional and national networks. By hosting The Bauta Family Initiative, regional organizations across Canada are building their capacity to work on seed issues, while making the most of their existing relationships to advance the program. This has created a program that is nationally coordinated and regionally driven.

Our core partners delivering this work in Canada are Seeds of Diversity Canada, FarmFolk CityFolk (FFCF), Organic Alberta, and the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO). We also work with the University of Manitoba, the University of British Columbia, and Bishop’s University on a range of seed research projects, and work with other partners in the organic and ecological farming sector for program delivery: Canadian Organic Growers, Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA), Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN), Centre d'expertise et de transfert en agriculture biologique et de proximité (CETAB+), SaskOrganics, Young Agrarians, Plant Gene Resources of Canada (PGRC), Centre de recherche sur les grains (CÉROM), and the Organic Seed Alliance (US). For more information on regional priorities, partnerships, and programs, please visit our "regions" webpage.