Mission and Goals

Our mission is to increase access to seeds of climate resilient, culturally significant food staples through grower participation and community education throughout Southern Oregon and Northern California.

 

In 2019, Chris Hardy, who began with a teaspoon of seed, has grown, observed, cataloged, sourced, collected and shared these precious seeds with growers worldwide. To date, the RVHGP has one of the most diverse heritage grain “Living Seed Banks” in the Western USA thanks to diverse grower participation, from new gardeners to tenured large scale farmers. Significant to the Rogue Valley, more than 100 unique varieties of heritage grains and legumes have demonstrated favorable productivity in this region thus improving the region's food security and resilience to a changing climate.

 

RVHGP's Active Goals:

• increase access to locally adapted climate resilient heritage grain and legume staples 
• maintain a diverse heritage seed library for all local growers 
• collect and share data with local farms and bakers network 
• establish an equipment share and training for growers of all scales
• trial and demonstrate crop rotation, inter-cropping and low-tillage practices
• support the development of a local grains market. 
• organize a series of events to celebrate heritage food and our commitment to growing the future toward a healthy community