More than 100 varieties of climate-appropriate seeds are up for grabs this weekend at North Phoenix Baptist Church, where the Great American Seed Up is setting up a several-thousand-square-foot room lined with seed buckets, scoops, bags and variety information cards. The event, now in its 12th year, is built around a simple pitch: put seeds and seed knowledge directly into the hands of ordinary gardeners and farmers, with free entry available through preregistration and seeds available for purchase at bulk discounts.
The event is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 6, at North Phoenix Baptist Church, 5757 N. Central Avenue, Building B, according to the Great American Seed Up, which says preregistration is required for free entry and includes access to online seed and gardening presentations. North Central News describes the annual gathering as a two-day event running Nov. 6-7 at the same church, and reports that walk-ins can still get in Friday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. for $7.50 at the door, based on capacity. Organizers say the seeds themselves are non-hybridized, non-GMO and open-pollinated, meaning attendees can save and replant them year after year, per the group's FAQ page. This year's event is also partnering with the Uptown Phoenix Farmers Market, the organizer says.
A Marketplace Built Around Scarcity
Bill McDorman, a founder of the Great American Seed Up, told KJZZ that Phoenix's climate presents a specific problem: the market here is too small for seed companies to produce climate-suited varieties at large scale commercially. That gap is part of why the event exists, with organizers aiming to put seeds suited to Phoenix into growers' hands while teaching people how to save their own seed for future seasons.
The event has drawn 700 to 1,000 attendees each year and has reached between 10,000 and 12,000 participants since it began, according to the same KJZZ report. McDorman described the Seed Up as the only event in the country bringing seeds directly from farmers in these quantities. By sourcing seeds straight from growers rather than retailers, the event cuts seed-packet costs by roughly 90 percent, KJZZ reported.
Why Seed Diversity Became a Talking Point
McDorman told the station that seed diversity helps farms become more resilient to climate change, and he estimated that about 90 percent of the kinds and varieties of crops grown in the United States a century ago have disappeared from cultivation. He said only about six varieties of major crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans are now widely used, and that one or two companies own and control the narrow genetics behind them. Separately, Civil Eats notes that some sources estimate the U.S. lost 93 percent of its seed diversity between 1903 and 1983 as industrial agriculture favored uniform, hybrid varieties.
McDorman linked that consolidation to a legal turning point: he said a U.S. Supreme Court decision in the early 1980s allowed patents to be applied to living things and seeds, a 4-to-3 ruling that he said was followed by thousands of small, regional and cultural seed companies being bought up by larger companies. He also pointed to the Plant Variety Protection Act, which gave corporations and plant breeders 20 years of protection for new varieties while still allowing farmers to save their own seed if they did not sell it, and allowing breeders and researchers to use protected material under similar conditions. McDorman said the law and the patenting system that followed reshaped the broader food system, according to the KJZZ report. A related federal statute on file with the U.S. Code does address seed-saving as a non-infringing activity in certain circumstances, though the provision references exceptions not fully detailed in the available text.
A Grassroots Counter-Movement
Since the 1980s, small seed companies and seed libraries have grown as part of what KJZZ's report called a renaissance movement pushing back against that consolidation. Democrats in Washington, D.C., have introduced legislation known as the Fair Seeds for Farmers Act, which exists in both House and Senate versions and is intended to let farmers save their own seeds and research them, though the bill has not yet received a vote, per KJZZ.
The Phoenix event fits into a wider national pattern of seed-sharing gatherings. Civil Eats reports that hundreds to thousands of similar seed swaps take place across the country each winter and spring, including a National Seed Swap Day gathering in Decorah, Iowa, where organizers laid out packets and jars of open-pollinated and heirloom seeds for farmers, children and community gardeners. Groups such as Native Seeds/SEARCH offer drought-tolerant heirloom seeds. On a national scale, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service has said its National Plant Germplasm System maintains more than 500,000 seed accessions across 10,000 species, though that figure comes from a lower-confidence snippet.
For Phoenix gardeners looking to build a garden suited to the desert, the Great American Seed Up offers a rare chance to access more than 100 open-pollinated varieties suitable for saving at home, with seeds available for purchase at bulk discounts. Those interested in attending can check preregistration details through the organizer's site, while North Central News reports that limited walk-in access remains available Friday evening depending on capacity.
