A deep dive into cutting-edge techniques, hands-on skills, and exciting alternative approaches to seed protecting, developing and saving

In Saved by Seeds, author Chris Smith shares the cutting-edge techniques for developing resilient supplies of crop seed that the team at The Utopian Seed Project—a nonprofit Chris founded in 2018 to explore and promote regional agrobiodiversity—has trialed at their experimental farm. The book also describes the work of others who are breaking the classical rules of seed saving in the quest for regionally adapted seed. 

Included are the essential botanical information and hands-on skills needed to successfully save seeds.

Saved by Seeds presents the rules of seed saving as taught in the modern era. Smith then questions the origins and motivations of these rules, which often pose a barrier to seed saving and create genetic bottlenecks.

The book also explores exciting alternative approaches to saving seeds, showcasing a growing movement of folks working with highly diverse and regionally adapted seed populations.

The final section of the book profiles organizations that are mobilizing around the world to protect the rights of exploratory seed savers. They are pushing back against the forms of agro-empire that seek to control seeds and offering inspiring examples of peasant and Indigenous grassroots movements.

About The Author

Chris Smith is executive director of The Utopian Seed Project, a crop-trialing nonprofit working to celebrate 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 first book with Chelsea Green, The Whole Okra, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2020, and he is the co-host of The Okra Pod Cast. In 2023 Chris received the Organic Educator Award from The Organic Growers School and was named a Champion of Conservation by Garden & Gun.