For the last two years, Share a Seed – a mutual aid organization dedicated to growing community by sharing seeds and gardening resources – has led the Farm Aid Seed Share in the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent. The Farm Aid Seed Share is an opportunity for the hundreds of Farm Aid attendees to connect over their love for local seeds and plants, learn interesting seed history and growing techniques, and of course take home a very special memento from the festival.

For Farm Aid 2022 in Raleigh, NC, the Seed Share theme was African American diaspora crops of the Southeast. To accomplish this, the Seed Share featured three seeds with deep roots in the region: Green Glaze Collards, Seven Top Turnips and Fish Peppers. At Farm Aid 2023 in Indianapolis, IN, the focus was on sustainable cover crops. Winter Wheat, Crimson Clover and Buckwheat seeds were shared with the public.

Share a Seed was developed by Reana Kim early in the COVID-19 pandemic to connect isolated community members to their food system and to one another with a safe and sustainable practice – gardening. The program has shared thousands of seeds with community members across the nation since its start in 2021, launched Washington DC's first Little Free Seed Libraries, and provides training and technical assistance to help would-be gardeners of all levels get growing.

Seed breeder and advocate, Jeff Quattrone, also featured in this video, is the Founder of the Library Seed Bank. He brought the Seed Library concept to South Jersey in 2014 and has permanently changed the public’s access to free seeds across South Jersey since. He’s an artist, an activist, and a New Jersey seed and Jersey Tomato breeding historian. Jeff strives to expand the conversation about preserving local food diversity through seed sovereignty. Jeff has revived six functionally extinct Jersey tomatoes and is flipping the script in doing so. He’s working on a book and media project titled Jersey Tomatoes, Bred for Profit Revived for Community Organizing.

Video Produced and Directed by Susan Steiner.

Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. For more than 35 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $70 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.

For more information about Farm Aid, visit: https://farmaid.org

Buy Farm Aid merch at https://shop.farmaid.org

Farm Aid’s performances are donated by the artists in order to raise funds and raise awareness for family farmers. They’ve raised their voices to help — can we count on you to stand with us and pledge your support? https://farmaid.org/donate