CONSERVATION

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documented over the following pages, varieties and breeds thought to be close to extinction a half century ago are once again being grown by thousands of small scale farmers, and are back on the tables of fine restaurants, brew pubs and home kitchens in every state in the union. It is our premise that dollar for dollar, support for rescuing, growing and returning heirloom seeds and heritage breeds to the American landscape has been a tremendously costeffective effort by philanthropic foundations, business, grass roots alliances and non-profits. The purposes of this survey are threefold. First, we wish to document the extraordinary growth in the production, sales, and use of America’s heritage foods over the last five decades. We will give special attention to species and varieties which were on the edge of extinction when certain biocultural conservation efforts and ecogastronomic restoration strategies emerged a quarter century ago. But we are also interested in new farmer-bred varieties selected for flavor. The heritage food revival of the last quarter century has accomplished one of the highest returns on investment of any public effort to conserve biodiversity in the entire world. It has succeeded in bringing tens of thousands of unique species and varieties back to the table—it is conservation you can taste. Second, we wish to discern the best practices that food producers, activists, distributors, marketers, journalists, chefs and food activists came upon in advancing the market recovery of particular heritage foods. We include here a number of case studies of particular plant varieties and livestock breeds that have recovered from the brink of extinction. We highlight 10
the testimonies of early adopters and innovators who nurtured their process of recovery. We also wish to highlight necessary cautions and avoid pitfalls that certain food recovery efforts have encountered. In other words, we hope to learn from our mistakes (and remedy them) as well as learn from the successes that appear to be potentially transferable to other foods at risk. Third, we wish to propose that new driving factors are emerging that are likely to propel heritage “Heritage foods offer a meaningful food recovery and food system diversification in dialogue between flavor, nutrition, new and unforeseen directions over the next quarter history and sustainability.” John Forti, century. New challenges are emerging as well. So Curator of Historic Landscape, Strawbery instead of thinking of food system diversification as a Banke Museum, Portsmouth NH rather “retro” effort in historic preservation or genetic conservation, we predict that future advances will take more dynamic and multi-cultural approaches. These novel approaches are likely to link these rare seeds and breeds to urban as well as rural food security, seed sovereignty, adaptation to climate change, alternatives to bioengineering and genetic contamination, and the quest for flavor, color and nutritional value. The role of heritage foods in providing nutrient diversity needs to be more widely recognized in the face oactor epidemic of obesity, diabetes and heart disease now affecting American youth. While we have no crystal ball, we feel it is morally necessary to broaden the discussion about heritage food recovery so that the needs of the poor, food insecure, nutritionallychallenged and politically-marginalized populations at risk are more fully taken into account. Already, efforts are underway to assure that heirloom vegetable seeds, seedlings and fruit tree cuttings are made more accessible for low-income families through “seed libraries” and SNAP program benefits, but there remains much more to be done. Thank you for joining us on this journey. 11
Page 1: CONSERVATION YOU CAN TASTE Best Pra
Page 4 and 5: FOREWORD by Melissa Kogut, Executiv
Page 6 and 7: PREFACE by Megan Larmer, Manager of
Page 8 and 9: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY by Gary Paul Nabh
Page 12 and 13: INTRODUCTION What is Food Biodivers
Page 14 and 15: One Indicator of How Heirloom Food
Page 16 and 17: VEGETABLES, LEGUMES, GRAINS & ROOT
Page 18 and 19: miraculous. Amish deer tongue lettu
Page 20 and 21: WHITE SONORA WHEAT: Adding Heritage
Page 22 and 23: different from growing modern varie
Page 24 and 25: “DATIL” DO IT: Where Pride in A
Page 26 and 27: instructor, Eddie Lambert, that stu
Page 28 and 29: A SPUD UNLIKE THE OTHERS: Ups and D
Page 30 and 31: In 2006, 500 pounds of seed was pur
Page 32 and 33: CAROLINA GOLD RICE: The Low Country
Page 34 and 35: Glenn Roberts farmers who wanted to
Page 36 and 37: A STAY-AT-HOME KIND OF SUCCESS: The
Page 38 and 39: Gordo pays farmers better than comm
Page 40 and 41: FRUITS, NUTS, & BERRIES THE NUMBER
Page 42 and 43: “One reason we are still making a
Page 44 and 45: HARRISON CIDER APPLES: From the Bri
Page 46 and 47: Chuck and Anne Shelton of Abermarle
Page 48 and 49: HERITAGE AGRI-TOURISM As a Strategy
Page 50 and 51: Some of these guides are in printed
Page 52 and 53: visitor’s center itself has pomeg
Page 54 and 55: LIVESTOCK & POULTRY BREEDS WE NOW L
Page 56 and 57: Heritage LIVESTOCK Recovery Trends
Page 58 and 59: Heritage POULTRY Recovery Trends 19
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GRASSFED BISON RECOVERY: Ranching t
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manager. “the biggest challenges
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THE RETURN OF THE NAVAJO-CHURRO SHE
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Churro Sheep Registry, which has be
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EMERGING CHALLENGES, OBSTACLES AND
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BEST PRACTICES AT THE SAME TIME, th
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more cost-effective to subsidize th
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE CONTRIBUTORS to
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CONSERVATION

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