Seed Savers, Executive Director, Kent Whealy fired!

As with all of the gifts SSE has ever secured, this recent, very large bequest was intended to and should be used only to make the organization and its current programs even stronger! Seed Savers has been designated as a beneficiary in that will (and others) because of SSE’s outstanding national reputation, which is the result of SSE’s 3,500 total Listed Members (during these last 33 years) donating millions of hours of hard work to make their families’ heirloom seeds available. I am not aware of any current member of the board having done anything to secure this recent, very large bequest, nor any of SSE’s previous bequests. However, since I have been quickly and quietly removed, I am no longer around to help ensure that board members do not use gifts to the organization to promote their own individual agendas at the expense of SSE. Indeed, in my opinion, SSE has just been taken over by a handful of elites, most of whom have their own personal agendas about how to use or change SSE. These current board members do not have the right to use SSE or to substantially change its direction, much less dismantle entire projects or change the organization completely. And I also believe that anyone with a personal agenda for changing the organization should not be allowed on SSE’s board.

In sharp contrast, over the years our friends/experts on SSE’s Board of Advisors have always provided me with wise counsel that has guided the development of Seed Savers, Heritage Farm, Twin Valleys (and their projects). These dedicated folks have selflessly shared their knowledge (some of them for decades) and, just like SSE’s Listed Members, have been the true stewards and protectors of the organization, and have been instrumental in making SSE what it is today:

Nancy Arrowsmith – Founded genetic preservation projects in Austria, helped organize SSE’s foreign plant collecting expeditions with scientists from Gaterselben, translated Seed to Seed into German; Suzanne Ashworth – author of Seed to Seed (both editions), SSE’s curator for eggplants and ground cherries, major distributor in SSE’s yearbook; Will Bonsai – SSE’s curator for peas, potatoes, favas, runner beans and biennials, major distributor in SSE’s yearbook; Dan Bussev – orchardist and cider maker, advisor and grafter for Heritage Farm’s Historic Orchard, apple researcher, historian and author; Keith Crotz – Rare book dealer, advisor for SSE’s library (and securing its donations), publisher of rare horticultural reprints, horticultural/agricultural literature historian; Glenn Drowns – Long-time advisor and consultant for the Preservation Gardens at Heritage Farm, currently maintaining 220 breeds of endangered poultry; Joel Girardin – garlic collector and grower, advisor for garlic plantings at Heritage Farm; Laura Jackson. Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Northern Iowa, expert on prairies and grazing; Craig LeHoullier – tomato collector; Darrell Merrell – garlic and tomato collector; Laura Merrick. Ph.D. – expert on cucurbits, agronomist at Iowa State; Jeff Nekola. Ph.D. -ecological researcher at the University of New Mexico investigating the biodiversity of native plants, land snails and butterflies, compiled all of the plant surveys for Twin Valleys, tomato and pepper collector; Michael Strauss. Ph.D. – Currently the Project Director for the Global Change Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; John Swenson – Allium collector and historian, member of 1989 collecting expedition to Uzbekistan that involved scientists from the U.S. and Poland; Mark Widrelechner. Ph.D. – Head Horticulturist at North Central Plant Introduction Station in Ames, Iowa since 1983, currently on USD A Crop Advisory Committees for Root and Bulb Vegetable Crops, Woody Landscape Plants and Herbacious Ornamentals; Garrison Wilkes. Ph.D. – Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, agronomist, expert on teosinte and corn genetics.

During all of their years of invaluable input, the members of SSE’s Board of Advisors have never shown the slightest sign of any personal agendas, only their dedication to genetic preservation and desire to help Seed Savers. (The combined brain power of SSE’s Advisors could light a small city!) In contrast, as soon as Amy Goldman became the Chair of SSE’s Board last March, I watched in shocked surprise as the first thing she did was replace SSE’s standard agenda with her own agenda of “big picture thinking” which took up half of the entire meeting. Also at that board meeting, Amy Goldman formed several board-led committees (which were just strengthened and made permanent in SSE’s new Bylaws) and, in my opinion, were designed to let the board control SSE’s staff during and after this manufactured and self-inflicted “crisis” associated with my removal.

4