snake river seed cooperative

By Terri Schmidt, Co-op volunteer writer

Snake River Seeds Cooperative is a group of family farmers who have joined forces to raise locally produced seeds that are sold near where they are produced. SRSC currently has 46 active growers within the states of Idaho, Utah, Montana, Washington, Wyoming and Oregon. SRSC has been around since 2014, and has hundreds of seed varieties available online, and at local retailers.

Using seeds adapted to the Intermountain West, the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Mountains, increases the chances of success for the gardeners and farmers who use them. The employees of the cooperative agree that “Seeds are intelligent, and highly adaptable beings! They have weathered the tough growing conditions of our bio-region, each season becoming better adapted to our unique place on Earth. Locally grown seeds grow better and help strengthen our communities. Supporting SRSC supports your local seed farmer and our local economies.” SRSC is dedicated to growing a robust regional seed shed. The Moscow Food Co-op has a selection of SNSC seeds lovingly grown locally by Russell Poe and Kelly Kingsland at Affinity Farms.

Growers who are part of SRSC care about the soil as well as the seeds it produces. They use organic methods for a minimum of one year prior to being assigned a seed crop. Farmers are not required to have organic certification, however, they are committed to practicing organic growing methods as prescribed by the USDA National Organic Program.

A little history of SNSC - Casey O’Leary and Carrie Jones started the Commonwealth Seed Library in Boise. To streamline the process of collecting and saving seeds, the Snake River Seed Cooperative was formed. The cooperative was owned by Casey O’Leary from the beginning, but as finances improved year by year and systems became more dialed in, the growers were increasingly comfortable with the collective ownership model.

The SRSC employs five staff members. When Casey took a full-time teaching position at the College of Western Idaho in Nampa in the fall of 2021, the transition to a cooperative began. Danny O’Malley, one of the SRSC seed growers at Onsen Farm, joined the crew as Wholesale Accounts Manager in November of 2020. With Danny’s fascination with management and social models that allow people to govern themselves in collaboration, and the help of another seed grower and attorney, Kelsey Jae, a set of collaborative self governing bylaws were drawn up.

Reiley Ney started as an intern in 2015 at Earthly Delight’s Farm. She now excels as the Finance and Seed Production Manager for the Cooperative. She is a data whiz who helps the group track inventory, assign seed crops and improve the overall task management system. Cassie Hill, Mary K. Johnson, and Anna Sigler take care of office management, order fulfillment, marketing, sales, finance, and accounting.

As a Cooperative, the group works with a business structure that has deep roots in agriculture and rural communities across the globe. They took some older ways and adapted them to modern times. The group makes decisions collectively, has deep and regular communications, and adheres to the values the business has developed for years. The Cooperative is constantly expanding and encourages people who are interested in joining to contact them at this link on their website.

For more information check out SRSC’s website and their Facebook page.