Community and Human Element of Native Crops and Genetic Resources in the Southwest.

Southwestern Native American communities have a deep and intimate relationship with aridlands farming based on millennia of experience. This long history has resulted in diverse arid-adapted genetic resources and distinctive agricultural traditions.  Both the genetic resources and cultural traditions have seen resurgence in recent years; in part because of the developing indigenous food sovereignty movement, increasing appreciation of their value in adapting to climate change, and as a reaction to the commercialization of seeds and growth of the biotech industry. Native Seeds/SEARCH, an agricultural seed conservation non-profit, has worked collaboratively with Native peoples on protecting and preserving regional crop diversity through off-site seed bank storage. We also have worked collaboratively with Native communities to educate and empower local stewardship and use of native crops. These collaborations teach us that there is more to native crops than simply arid-adapted genetic traits – there is history, tradition, spirit, and respect. For example, these crop resources are physical connections to land, water and indigenous struggles. Understanding and respecting human relationships with native crop resources should influence and direct the conservation of these important resources for future use within Native communities as well as by the wider public.