Seeds and foods that are rooted in ancient traditions and practices can be a major contributor to people’s physical, mental and spiritual health. Women farmers in the North East of the United Kingdom are saving and exchanging traditional seeds, which is giving them a sense of abundance. In a garden at Montana University in the US, caretakers are promoting biodiversity, social justice and the growing of good, nutrient-dense foods as they follow the agricultural traditions and cultural protocol of the Indigenous Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people. And a popular cooking show on tv on the Pacific islands of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu is promoting traditional, local food that is healthy for people and biodiversity: ‘We have found it terrifically affirming to realise that your culture is your cure.”
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The power of seed to support people
In March 2024, under the name ‘Growing to Seed’, 14 people in the North East of England committed to a six-month learning programme about agroecological seed production – the history and politics of seed, techniques for good quality production, and the practices of low input growing. The outcomes provide early-stage evidence of the direct link between seed production and wellbeing.
This region of the UK is often associated with poor physical and mental health, linked to low income, limited levels of educational attainment and a damaged post-industrial landscape. For us, it was significant that the reasons given by each of the participants who signed up for the training included feeling isolated, experiencing climate anxiety, or feeling frustrated and powerless in the face of environmental damage.
The notion of abundance they experienced, and the resulting capacity to share seed freely, were key factors
The seed savers followed the programme of a larger cohort of UK and Ireland-based learners who were doing their training online. The online coordination team had received signals that their trainees were not just gaining skills and knowledge, but that they were happier and more connected as a result. This time, through the face-to-face training, trainers aimed to test these observations by documenting simple indicators relating to perceived wellbeing throughout the training.
At the close of the training, learners said they were feeling better as a result of working with seed. “These meetings helped me to not feel so lonely in the journey of growing vegetables and flowers in a sustainable way,” said one participant. “[I was] able to pour my heart out about stress and negative issues without any judgement,” added another.
The notion of abundance they experienced, and the resulting capacity to share seed freely, were key factors in this change, which for them was distinct from the experience of growing food. “When I harvested my seeds, I felt a real sense of achievement that I had managed to grow seeds that would be useful to myself, and mostly to be able to share them with others,” reported another learner. They also felt a sense of pride in having produced a seed crop of their own, something many thought they didn’t have the skills to do.
Another important outcome mentioned by learners was the new friendships they gained, with some of them now meeting to share meals, film nights and visits to local gardens. Following the course, eight people started to volunteer at local growing projects, and one has signed up to a back-to-work scheme after having been unemployed for many years.
These results speak to the power of seed to connect and support people at the most challenging points in their lives.
Author: Catherine Howell is the Northern England Region Coordinator of the Seed Sovereignty Programme UK & Ireland, an initiative of The Gaia Foundation supported by the Landworkers’ Alliance’s ‘Experts in your Field’ project. Contact: catherine@gaianet.org
This article is part of Issue 2-2025: Cultivating health and healing
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Learning from Indigenous agricultural traditions at a university farm
For three seasons, as students and faculty, we have been cultivating an Indigenous agroecological garden – the Four Sisters Garden – at the University of Montana’s PEAS Farm in the US in collaboration with Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College (NHSC), the tribal college of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. One purpose of this garden is to elevate the traditional gardening practices, foods and seeds of the MHA Nation, whose ancestral territory extends up the Missouri River into what is now Montana.
The garden is a 250-square-foot space with corn, beans, squash and sunflowers planted in mounds as described by Waheenee, the Hidatsa woman of the famous book Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden. At the end of each season, food and seeds grown in the garden are given as gifts to tribal community partners, including the All Nations Health Center and the People’s Food Sovereignty Program. Seeds are also returned to tribal partners at NHSC.
"I learned to let go of colonial practices while building community”
In the garden, we follow the agricultural traditions and cultural protocol of the Indigenous MHA peoples. Through this cultural protocol, we are asked to practice the worldview and cultures associated with the Tribes’ ancestral garden, entering the garden as our full physical, intellectual and spiritual selves. In practice, this requires us to recognise that plants and other land-based beings have spirit and sentience. Thus, when we enter the garden, we are mindful of our language and behavior; as we work, we are respectful, kind, and of positive mind. The lessons each of us learns in this space reflect this deep level of engagement. The cultural protocol is an essential part of this Indigenous approach to growing food that exercises – though greatly pre-dates – agroecological principles.
Sidney Fellows, a student caretaker, shares this important insight: “As a Shoshone-Bannock tribal citizen, the integration of cultural protocol into growing the garden allows me/us to reassert Indigenous relationships with the land, even though I am not MHA. This assertion of Indigenous relationship to land promotes biodiversity, social justice and the growing of good, nutrient-dense foods – all factors that contribute to health.” Another student caretaker, May-Lyric Smith, reflects: “We planted seeds of hope while navigating complex conversations about the colonial-affected landscapes and our food systems. From sharing our familial relations to farming, I learned to let go of colonial practices while building community.”
For faculty caretaker Caroline Stephens, “the question that drives me in this cross-cultural work is, ‘how can we live well together?’” For May-Lyric Smith, the question is, “how can I be a good relative?” Our most important lesson is that being good relatives requires us to listen to the land – to the soil, sisters, ‘weeds’, climate and people that weave together to create this Indigenous agroecological space.
Authors: Ruth De La Cruz (Hidatsa, Nueta, Nakota, Dakota) is from the University of Montana and the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College. Sidney Fellows (Shoshone-Bannock, Chippewa-Cree), May-Lyric Smith (Apsaálooke, Aapatohsipiikani, Sicangu Lakota) and Caroline Stephens are caretakers of the Four Sisters Garden at the University of Montana. All of them contributed equally to this article. Contact: Ruth De La Cruz at rhall@nhsc.edu.
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Reality TV cooking show strengthens Pacific Islands food systems
Over the course of a generation, there has been a fundamental shift in the way people in the Pacific Islands eat. Traditional diets of local, seasonally available and nutritious seafood, fruits, coconut, taro and wild plants have given way to ultra-processed, high fat, high salt, high sugar and energy dense food. The toll on health and nutrition has been disastrous, with excessively high rates of diet-related non-communicable disease, including diabetes, heart disease, obesity and stroke.
In parallel, the rich agrobiodiversity of the Pacific Islands has been threatened by the simplification of ecosystems and species and the planting of a few preferred varieties. Monocropping and the use of genetically uniform livestock and poultry breeds have contributed to the loss of many traditional local varieties and breeds. The loss of habitat resulting from the reduction in forest cover, coastal wetlands and other wild, uncultivated areas has also contributed to the loss of many nutritious wild culinary relatives and species and the related knowledge and food cultures.
This food revolution is televised
Since 2019, a reality TV cooking show called Pacific Island Food Revolution has succeeded in attracting audiences and drawing attention to these challenges in an innovative, creative and unshaming way. Contestants from the islands of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu compete against each other to cook up recipes based on fresh local ingredients.
Challenges on past episodes have included using everyday greens in Fiji; making a soup from disaster-resilient crops; and creating a nutrient-rich meal for pregnant women and lactating mothers. The show is currently screened in 12 island countries and has more than 5 million weekly viewers. Celebrities regularly feature in the show, including Her Royal Highness, Princess Salote Mafile’O Pilolevu Tuita.
The story of the food is the story of the people
The show fills an important gap for many Pacific Islanders. In its first year, an average 42 per cent of people who watched the show reported a positive change in their diets, eating more local foods and less processed and fast foods. One participant in the show, international rugby star Randall Kamea, said that he was “healed” from depression by reconnecting with his Tongan and Fijian roots through food. There is also evidence that the image of local cuisine is shifting from ‘village food’ towards desirable and trendy.
Beyond human health, the show has also exposed the threats to the rich agrobiodiversity of the Pacific Islands that are caused by industrial food production, and emphasises the links between food and climate change. Over the past years, the show has catalysed several partnerships, including with the University of the South Pacific and The Periodic Table of Food Initiative, thereby strengthening the links to biodiversity protection and climate resilience.
Central to the Pacific Island Food Revolution message is that the key to good health lies in the Pacific. Local food systems here have the power to strengthen and create communities and cultures. On the Pacific Islands, ceremonies and celebrations are enacted through food, relationships are developed, memories are shared, and identity is celebrated – all through food. The story of the food is the story of the people, and it’s all based on love. We have found it terrifically affirming to realise that your culture is your cure.
Authors: Robert Oliver is a chef, television presenter, award-winning author and the founder and host of Pacific Island Food Revolution. Vincent Lal manages the Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and supports projects at the Periodic Table of the Food Initiative in the South Pacific. Gina Kennedy is a principal Scientist with the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Contact: robert@pacificislandfoodrevolution.com
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This article is part of Issue 2-2025: Cultivating health and healing
