Steam Onward

The Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance (UCFA), a program of the nonprofit STEAM ONWARD , is launching year two of the Ira Wallace Seed School (IWSS)—a living tribute to our founding granny, visionary elder, and master seeds-woman, Ira Wallace. This school was created to equip BIPOC growers with the practical skills and powerful knowledge needed to fully participate in the seed sovereignty movement.

View &/or Print a PDF of the IWSS Scholarship Fundraising Brochure

WHY IS INCREASING AGRO-BIODIVERSITY IMPORTANT?

Over the past century or so, there has been a seventy-five percent decline in agricultural biodiversity, meaning many varieties of edible plants are no longer available today. This is mainly due to the rise of industrialized agriculture. Once lost biodiversity for food and agriculture cannot be recovered. 

Increasing heirloom seed farmers is essential for food sovereignty, cultural preservation, and ecological resilience. A special focus of the IWSS is preserving “culturally meaningful seeds.” Many heirloom crops—like collard greens, field peas, okra, amaranth, callaloo, bitter melon, squash, and millets such as sorghum—carry deep cultural significance and ancestral ties. When BIPOC farmers steward these seeds, they help preserve culinary traditions, farming practices, and spiritual relationships to the land.

Importantly, heirloom varieties often have unique adaptations to pests, diseases, and climate stressors. Drawing on traditional ecological knowledge, BIPOC farmers play a vital role in maintaining and expanding this genetic diversity. Preserving a diverse supply of climate adapted culturally meaningful heirloom seeds and crops supports a more resilient food system—one better equipped to withstand climate change and ecological disruptions.

BUT WE CAN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!

From hands-on seed saving and breeding to justice-rooted dialogue and community resilience, our curriculum at the Ira Wallace Seed School empowers a new generation of seed stewards to carry forward ancestral agricultural traditions with integrity and care.

We’re raising funds to ensure tuition is never a barrier for aspiring seed stewards from historically marginalized communities. Every dollar you give helps us provide full and partial scholarships for BIPOC growers ready to carry Ira Wallace’s legacy forward. Tuition is $650 for our 9 month course, Introduction to Ethical Seed Breeding. In addition we are offering a mini course for $300 entitled Seed Ethics 2025.

Approximately half of the students enrolled in these courses are only able to pay partial tuition. Your donation will help fund full and partial scholarships so that tuition is never a barrier for aspiring seed stewards.

Your gift will help us:

WHO IS IRA WALLACE?

They call her the godmother of southern seeds. Lovingly many refer to her as Mama Ira. Gardener, author, and teacher, Ira Wallace is notably associated with the cooperative heirloom seed company, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, where she serves in a managerial capacity. Wallace's work extends into the realm of seed conservation, focusing on heirloom and open-pollinated seeds, which are pivotal for biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. Her efforts were highlighted in the 2014 documentary "Open Sesame – The Story of Seeds," which underscores the challenges faced by advocates for non-GMO seeds in preserving seed sovereignty.

Ira Wallace's journey into the world of organic farming and seed saving was influenced by her experiences during her college years, where she co-founded an organic gardening co-op, and her travels to organic farms around the globe, including in Israel, Denmark, and Ontario. Wallace has served as a board member for the Virginia Association for Biological Farming, Open Source Seed Initiative and Organic Seed Alliance. She was the recipient of the 2016 Craig Claiborne Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2019 American Horticultural Society's Paul Ecke Jr. Commercial Award and the 2019 recipient of the Organic Growers School's Organic Educator Award. In June of 2023, Wallace won a James Beard Leadership Award, being recognized “for her impactful work and leadership as a writer, gardener, and educator." Settling in the Twin Oaks community in the 1980s, she has since dedicated her life to the cultivation of plants and the sharing of knowledge on sustainable agricultural practices.

WHAT IS THE IRA WALLACE SEED SCHOOL?

During the Fall 2023 UCFA Convening, held in Accokeek, Maryland, UCFA members surprised Wallace with the announcement that they were forming “The Ira Wallace Seed School”, a new UCFA program, with the mission to give BIPOC growers the skills, knowledge, as well as the moral, political, and historical framework to become ethical seed practitioners. Ira Wallace is a founding granny of Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance.

An idea dreamed up by Mama Ira Wallace herself and pushed into reality by STEAM ONWARD president and UCFA co-founder Bonnetta Adeeb, the Ira Wallace Seed School is being brought to fruition by an amazing team of heirloom seed saving, and seed farming practitioners including Ira Wallace and Nate Kleinman as Lead Mentors, with Amirah Mitchell, Reggie Blackwood, Veronica Limeberry, and Chris Keeve as Lead Facilitators. Other organizers include Tomia MacQueen, Justice Madden, and Roxanne Masters, as well as seed school alums now joining the planning committee, Kaitlyn Walsh and Dail Chambers.

Over the long run we envision The Ira Wallace Seed School becoming a comprehensive institution, focused on teaching students from communities that are underrepresented in the seed industry and who have historically not benefited from participation in the agricultural sectors of the U.S. economy.

Join us in growing a future rooted in food sovereignty, biodiversity, and intergenerational knowledge.

Donate Now. And remember . . . Your support doesn’t just fund a scholarship—it helps cultivate the future of farming. Thank you for being part of this transformation.