SEED SHARING AND COVID-19

“Seeds are doorways to history, culture, and to new connections.” - Slow Food DC

In 2020, seed orders rose 8 to 10 times higher than in 2019. During the pandemic, several people have turned to gardening as a pastime, where others have used gardening to combat food insecurity. However, while seed sales have increased over the past year, so have shortages in seed supply. As COVID-19 has endangered many agricultural and food workers, it also has threatened those in the seed supply chain, and similar to the panic-buying we witnessed of items like toilet paper, in 2020, people were also overbuying seeds. Consequently, garden stores and nurseries were running out of seeds. A typical packet of seeds contains more seeds than most people need, which is why there are seed saving groups and institutions. However, these institutions were also affected by the pandemic and some had to close temporarily to plan how to address the increase in demand. 

The pressures of COVID-19 have exacerbated threats to seed diversity, sovereignty, and access, putting community seed access, and consequently food security, at an even higher risk. To make seeds more accessible, a local D.C. organizer named Reana Kovalcik started Share a Seed in D.C., an initiative for seed sharing with Slow Food USA. As of now, Slow Food USA has 6 Share a Seed programs across the country. Share a Seed has been inspired by traditional seed swaps and mutual aid movements. In addition to increasing accessibility, the program hopes to build connections amongst community members in a time of isolation. To execute this work, Share a Seed works with local farmers markets and grocery stores to collect seeds at drop-off locations and local mutual aid groups help with seed distribution. Below, you will find some information on D.C. organizations and markets helping to implement the Share a Seed program.