"...when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another Heaven and another Earth must pass before such a one can be again."
-William Beebe

RAFT – Renewing America's Food Traditions

An Eco-Gastronomical Approach to Preserving Biodiversity

ALBC proudly joins six other of the country’s most prominent non-profit education, conservation, and food organizations in RAFT to save endangered livestock and poultry breeds, food crops, wild foods, and fishes.

Introduction
While most Americans are by now well acquainted with the ongoing extinction of wildlife, the public is largely unaware that this same fate is befalling wild and cultivated foods – the culturally important plants and animals that have fed humans since before the dawn of agriculture. Across the world today, a large percentage of native and heirloom vegetable, grain and bean crops, seafood, wild game, and traditional livestock breeds are vanishing into extinction. Some sobering statistics:

• One in fifteen of the 10,000 edible wild plant species is currently at risk, and with their decline, there has been a concomitant loss of traditional ecological knowledge about how to sustainably harvest them;

• Over 176 fish species formerly found in the coastal waters of the U.S. have suffered population declines, such that none of them have been harvested in the last quarter century at the levels that were previously achieved prior to 1980;

• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the twentieth century saw the disappearance of one third of the world’s farm animal breeds; and

• In the United States alone, 63% of native American crop varieties have disappeared from cultivation since Europeans arrived on this continent.

While many factors have contributed to these alarming trends, they can be attributed in great part to the worldwide industrialization of agriculture and the increasing domination of multi-national agricultural and food production concerns. A number of associations and organizations have developed to counter such losses; in the United States, these include the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Native Seeds/SEARCH, and Seed Savers Exchange. Many of our heritage livestock breeds, as well as thousands of heirloom fruits, vegetables, grains, and other crops owe their continued survival to the genetic storehouses and seed banks maintained by these, and other groups.

Yet these same organizations have recognized that the best assurance for continued biodiversity in our food supply lies not only in preserving germplasm in repositories, but also in reintroducing these same varied foods to larger audiences, so that they are once again sustainably managed in wild or cultivated habitats. With this aim in mind, a coalition has been formed to draw on the collective knowledge and expertise of organizations that have long specialized in the preservation of biodiversity, and interpret their work to a wide audience in the most immediate way possible – through its palate. In other words, the RAFT project will demonstrate the efficacy of an approach to preserving food biodiversity that can be sustainable but also “eater-based” and “market-driven” on behalf of the ethnic enclaves of native and non-native Americans who have persisted in maintaining cultural legacies of food diversity unique to the North American continent.

Slow Food: An Umbrella Organization for Eco-Gastronomy
As an international movement, Slow Food has placed an emphasis on the fruit and vegetable varieties and animal breeds recognized as distinct components of local and regional cuisines that were becoming less readily available, as well as cheeses, cured meats, condiments, and other preserved foods that had been made by following centuries old traditions. Slow Food has recognized from the beginning that the means to prevent this loss would have to be both educational and economic; if consumers could be made aware of their eco-gastronomic heritage, and to recognize the high quality of traditional foods, they would be more inclined to demand and purchase such foods, even at a higher price. This demand would in turn fuel renewed interest on the part of farmers and producers to return to the production of these traditional foods.

This initial premise was the basis for projects and events that have made Slow Food into a world-wide movement. Chief among its tools are: 1) the international “Ark of Taste,” a catalog of traditional - and endangered - food varieties from around the world; 2) the “Presidia, ” which are food recovery projects with farmers and artisans who agree to abide by traditional, and environmentally sustainable, production protocols; 3) the “Salone Del Gusto,” an international gathering of food producers and a showcase for traditional, handcrafted foods held every two years in Turin, Italy. As an international movement, Slow Food now numbers 80,000 members worldwide, with more than 10,000 of these in the United States. Due to the rapidly increasing participation in this country, an independent office (Slow Food USA) was established in New York in 2000, to both sustain this country’s membership and to initiate and maintain projects suited for the American public and its own complex food culture. It should be noted that while Slow Food USA maintains close ties with the International office in Italy, its primary mission is to promote American foods that are produced locally and sustainably by independent farmers and artisans.

To date, Slow Food USA’s most successful project in defense of biodiversity has been a collaborative venture with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy to reintroduce traditional (or “Heritage”) turkey varieties to the Thanksgiving table. In brief, Slow Food worked with the ALBC to identify those Heritage Turkey varieties that were most in danger of being lost. A national media campaign (initiated via an article in the New York Times food section), coupled with grass-roots involvement on the part of Slow Food members nationwide, helped spur demand for these turkeys. Such interest and demand helped convince farmers to take up raising the Heritage breeds on a trial basis, with educational assistance provided by the ALBC. This increase is a crucial first step towards ensuring the continued survival of several genetic strains that were until recently on the very brink of extinction.

The RAFT Project: A Collaborative Effort
The Heritage turkey project has shown that collaborative efforts between a research and conservation based organization such as the ALBC and an educational and public outreach group such as Slow Food can indeed prove fruitful, as well as relevant to the missions of both institutions. This demonstrable success now encourages the RAFT project to use this collaborative model, combining Slow Food’s grassroots successes with those of six other organizations:

• The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and Seed Savers Exchange, each of which plays crucial roles nationwide in the conservation of plant and animal foods biodiversity
• The Cultural Conservancy and Native Seed / SEARCH, which are devoted to promoting, safeguarding and sustaining Native American food traditions
• Chefs Collaborative, whose nationwide membership has pioneered the use of local and sustainably produced foods on restaurant menus
• The Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, which conceived of the RAFT project and has done the primary data analysis, documentation and facilitation for the campaign to date.

These organizations have collectively launched a nationwide campaign: Renewing America’s Food Traditions, or “RAFT.” Already, its initial work has been featured at the First Food Nations conference sponsored by the First Nations Development Institute in Milwaukee; the Society for Ethnobiology conference in Davis; the Crop Science Society of America conference in Denver; the Slow Food Board of Governors meeting in Arizona; and Seed Savers Annual Convention in Decorah, Iowa.ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILES
Renewing America’s Food Traditions will be a team effort, fiscally managed by Slow Food USA:

ABOUT RAFT’S FOUNDING PARTNERS

• American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
• Center for Sustainable Environments
• Chefs Collaborative
• Cultural Conservancy
• Native Seed/SEARCH
• Seed Savers Exchange
• Slow Food USA
  

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy [www.albc-usa.org]
RAFT Contact: Don Bixby | 540/951-2386 or Jeannette Beranger | 919/542-5704

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Pittsboro, North Carolina. ALBC is dedicated to conservation and promotion of endangered breeds of livestock and poultry. ALBC monitors breed populations of ten traditional agricultural species in the US, identify endangered breeds, documents breed performance, and promotes their use. ALBC is the preeminent source for information on genetic conservation in the US and has long recognized that sustainable agriculture is the ideal habitat for many of breeds that are regionally adapted and selected for self-sufficiency.

Center for Sustainable Environments [www.environment.nau.edu]
RAFT Contact: Gary Nabhan | 928/523-6726

The Center for Sustainable Environments (CSE) was established at Northern Arizona University (NAU) to serve as an umbrella organization for interdisciplinary environmental collaborations and community outreach in the culturally diverse Intermountain West. NAU has a long history of working with communities to integrate scientific knowledge with local expertise, fostering community capacity-building, then engaging varied cultures and constituencies in creative environmental problem solving.

In particular, CSE promotes the linkages between biodiversity and agricultural conservation, especially when it retains traditional ecological knowledge associated with cultural diversity. The Center now has a successful track record of working with several Native American tribes on the renewal of their food systems; for example, CSE facilitated the largest seed repatriation in history to benefit the Hopi tribe. Dr. Gary Nabhan, the Center’s Director is also the founder and facilitator of The RAFT Project.

Chefs Collaborative [chefscollaborative.org]
RAFT Contact: Jennifer Hall | 617/236-5200

Chefs Collaborative is a national network of more than 1,000 members of the food community who promote sustainable cuisine by celebrating the joys of local, seasonal, and artisanal cooking. The Collaborative has held successful tastings and briefings on a variety of issues, including sustainable seafood solutions, grass-fed, free-range meat production, GMO's and animal welfare and safety. The Collaborative provides its members with the tools to run both economically and environmentally sustainable food service businesses.



Cultural Conservancy [nativeland.org]
RAFT Contact: Melissa Nelson | 415/561-6594
A Native American non-profit dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of indigenous cultures and their ancestral lands, storytelling, and harvesting traditions. The Cultural Conservancy's Storyscape media project focuses on the protection of storehouses of traditional knowledge surrounding nutrition, resources use, farming, foraging, and time-tested sustainable land management practices. The Conservancy strives to preserve and renew this endangered knowledge through ethnographic recordings and by providing technical assistance for tribes to protect their own cultural legacies.



Native Seed/SEARCH [nativeseeds.org]
RAFT Contact: Kevin Dahl | 520/622-5561

Native Seeds/SEARCH is a non-profit conservation organization based in Tucson, Arizona. NS/S works to conserve, distribute and document the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seed, their wild relatives and the role these seeds play in cultures of the American Southwestern and northwest Mexico. Started in 1983, NS/S now safeguards 2000 varieties of arid-land adapted agricultural crops. NS/S promotes the use of these ancient crops and their wild relatives by distributing seeds to traditional communities and to gardeners worldwide. 350 varieties grown at the NS/S Conservation Farm in Patagonia, Arizona are currently available.



Seed Savers Exchange [seedsavers.org]
RAFT Contact: Kent Whealy | 563/382-5990

Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), founded in 1975 by Kent and Diane Whealy, is the single most effective food crop conservation non-profit in history. SSE's Heritage Farm permanently maintains and displays 24,000 heirloom vegetable varieties, 700 pre-1900 apples, 200 hardy grapes, and herds of extremely rare Ancient White Park cattle. Since 1981, SSE's Garden Seed Inventory (Sixth Edition) and similar publications have tracked the availability of all non-hybrid vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries in the U.S. Using Seed Savers Yearbook, SSE's annually offers members 12,000 varieties of heirloom vegetables, almost twice as many non-hybrid varieties as are offered by the entire U.S. mail-order garden seed industry. Seed Savers Exchange and Heritage Farm have provided the models for organizations and projects in more than 30 countries.



Slow Food USA [slowfoodusa.org]
RAFT Contact: Makalé Faber | 718/260-8000

Slow Food USA is a non-profit organization that supports a bio-diverse, sustainable food supply, local producers, and heritage foodways. Founded in 1986 in Italy to protect the pleasures of the table from the homogenization of modern fast food and fast life, Slow Food has grown to encompass a worldwide membership of 80,000 in 100 countries. With over 135 convivia (chapters) in the United States, Slow Food USA organizes projects including the Ark of Taste and Presidia, which identify and revitalize foods, farmers and traditions that are at risk of extinction; Slow Food in Schools, which establishes garden to table projects in schools that cultivate the senses and teach an ecological approach to food; and Terra Madre, a global networking conference of 5,000 small-scale food producers and chefs from 130 countries.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE RAFT PROJECT VISIT: http://www.slowfoodusa.org/raft/overview.html