Seeding Resilience: An Examination of the Impacts of a Seed Saving Network in Western Montana

Informal seed saving continues even in the context of an increasingly industrialized and globalized agricultural system. While some scholarship has focused on informal seed saving practices that continue to thrive in the global South, few studies have examined the dynamics of these practices in the global North, particularly in the American West. This thesis utilizes a resilience framework to assess a seed saving network and its impacts in western Montana, specifically the Bitterroot and Missoula Valleys. Two questions guide the inquiry: 1) How do significant actors connect within the seed saving network of the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys, and 2) How does the seed saving network contribute to the social-ecological resilience of the local agroecosystem? The primary methods used to collect data were semi-structured interviews and participant observation, resulting in qualitative data that were coded to develop themes. The results of the data analysis are presented in two parts. Chapter 4 addresses the first question by describing the rich and varied actor connections and their local effects. The primary actors identified are seed, people, and the environment, which all connect and interact to develop a complex rooted network. Chapter 5 addresses the second question, first by exploring “resilience effects,” or the effects of actor interactions that may result in added resilience to the agroecosystem. Then, a pre-established indicator framework of resilience in an agroecosystem is applied to determine how the seed saving network contributes resilience. The discussion explores the impacts this research may have on studying resilience and agroecosystems in the global North, highlighting the role of resilience as a process, the importance of situated knowledge, and the agency of seed. The thesis concludes by suggesting that seed and seed saving networks could play vital roles in fostering resilience of local agroecosystems