Sessions
-
On Farm Seed Saving in the Southeast
Chris Smith, Utopian Seed Project
Friday · 1:00 pm–4:30 pm
This workshop focuses on creating a foundational understanding of growing and saving seeds in the Southeast. The workshop covers some of the basics of seed saving, including the technical, practical, and economic aspects, and…
-
Community Seed Keeping: Collards
Chris Smith, Utopian Seed Project; Bonnetta Adeeb, Ujamaa Seeds and the Ira Wallace Seed School; Ira Wallace, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Saturday · 9:45 am–11:00 am
This panel featuring Ira Wallace, Bonnetta Adeeb and Chris Smith focuses on creating a foundational understanding of growing and saving seeds in the Southeast. They will covers some of the basics of seed saving,…
Chris Smith is executive director of the Utopian Seed Project, a crop-trialing non-profit working to celebrate agrobiodiversity in food and farming. Within this work, Chris collaborates on The Heirloom Collard Project, hosts a seasonal Trial to Table event series, and publishes Crop Stories, a crop specific multimedia project. His book, The Whole Okra, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2020 and he is the co-host of The Okra Pod Cast. In 2023 he received the Organic Educator Award from the Organic Growers School and was named a Champion of Conservation by Garden & Gun. In 2024 he was accepted into the Southern SARE AG Leadership Program. In 2025 he received an Appalachian Foodways Fellowship from Grow Appalachia. His book, Saved by Seeds, was published by Chelsea Green Publishing in Dec 2026.