Briefing Statement: Seeds that Grow Hope: USDA Seed Distribution Program
Organization: America the Beautiful Fund, Washington, DC
Issue: Public and Private Partnership Aimed at Helping People Help Themselves by Planting Seeds
Geographic Location : National
Date: May 19, 2009
Current Status:
On January 8, 2008 Congress authorized the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Section 7523, page 388, of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, to establish a “Seed Distribution Program” . Federal participation in the program, which was sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, was intended to provide a federal grant to the America the Beautiful Fund to carry out a national seed distribution program to administer and maintain the public distribution $4,000,000 worth of seeds that have been donated to the Fund by commercial seed companies.
America the Beautiful Fund is the only organization in America that distributes free seeds nationally. The Fund is totally supported by private donations and has an overhead of less than 5%. With a federal grant of $200,000 annually America the Beautiful Fund could expand this program to serve all participants in the Agriculture Department federal programs in Agriculture, Nutrition and Natural Resources, and bring back to life the original mission of the USDA when it was founded by Abraham Lincoln in 1865 to distribute seeds.
Background:
America the Beautiful Fund is a national non-profit organization started in response to Lady Bird and President Johnson’s White House Conference on Natural Beauty in 1965 to encourage volunteer citizen efforts to protect the natural and historic beauty of America.
Since 1980, America the Beautiful Fund’s Operation Green Plant program has been collecting vegetable, flower and herb seed packets donated from the major American seed companies and distributing them to community-based public and private organizations and groups across the U.S.. The companies that have been donating seeds include: Burpee Seeds Company, Johnny’s Select Seed, Page Seed Company, Harris Seed/Garden Trends, Applewood Seed Company, Charles C. Hart Seed Company, Terra International, Livingston Seed Company, Thompson & Morgan, Crossman Seed Corporation, Lake Valley Seed Company and Seminis Vegetable Seeds. During this period these seeds have been distributed to 10,000,000 volunteers in churches, schools, community gardens, public housing projects, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H Clubs, Women’s Clubs, Cooperative Extension Service Offices, Master Gardeners, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Offices, soup kitchens, food banks, libraries, Head Start programs, prisons, American Indian Reservations, senior centers and other community groups in all 50 states to grow food for hungry people, teach best nutrition practices and promote environmental stewardship.
Operation Green Plant has:
* Saved more than 800 tons of seed and 7 million flower bulbs from going to waste in landfills
* Distributed enough vegetable seed to grow 1.75 billion pounds of fresh produce for food insecure Americans
* Distributed 650,000 pounds of flower seed and 7 million flower bulbs to care for roadways, public lands and neighborhoods across America
* Provided over 30,000 pounds of seeds to people adversely impacted by Gulf Coast Hurricanes, Iowa floods and West Coast wildfires.
Partners:
America the Beautiful Fund has worked with the Cooperative Extension Service, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, Master Gardeners program, Junior Master Gardeners program, Future Farmers of America, The National Grange, The Daughters of the American Revolution, The Colonial Dames, The General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Ag in the Classroom, 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy and Girl Scouts, Food Stamp Offices, Feeding America (Second Harvest) food banks, Soil and Water Conservation Service, and others.
Contact:
Primary: Nanine Bilski President America the Beautiful Fund (202) 638-1649
Secondary: Bob Cashdollar (202)728-4058
Organization: America the Beautiful Fund, Washington, DC
Issue: Public and Private Partnership Aimed at Helping People Help Themselves by Planting Seeds
Geographic Location : National
Date: May 19, 2009
Current Status:
On January 8, 2008 Congress authorized the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Section 7523, page 388, of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, to establish a “Seed Distribution Program” . Federal participation in the program, which was sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, was intended to provide a federal grant to the America the Beautiful Fund to carry out a national seed distribution program to administer and maintain the public distribution $4,000,000 worth of seeds that have been donated to the Fund by commercial seed companies.
America the Beautiful Fund is the only organization in America that distributes free seeds nationally. The Fund is totally supported by private donations and has an overhead of less than 5%. With a federal grant of $200,000 annually America the Beautiful Fund could expand this program to serve all participants in the Agriculture Department federal programs in Agriculture, Nutrition and Natural Resources, and bring back to life the original mission of the USDA when it was founded by Abraham Lincoln in 1865 to distribute seeds.
Background:
America the Beautiful Fund is a national non-profit organization started in response to Lady Bird and President Johnson’s White House Conference on Natural Beauty in 1965 to encourage volunteer citizen efforts to protect the natural and historic beauty of America.
Since 1980, America the Beautiful Fund’s Operation Green Plant program has been collecting vegetable, flower and herb seed packets donated from the major American seed companies and distributing them to community-based public and private organizations and groups across the U.S.. The companies that have been donating seeds include: Burpee Seeds Company, Johnny’s Select Seed, Page Seed Company, Harris Seed/Garden Trends, Applewood Seed Company, Charles C. Hart Seed Company, Terra International, Livingston Seed Company, Thompson & Morgan, Crossman Seed Corporation, Lake Valley Seed Company and Seminis Vegetable Seeds. During this period these seeds have been distributed to 10,000,000 volunteers in churches, schools, community gardens, public housing projects, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H Clubs, Women’s Clubs, Cooperative Extension Service Offices, Master Gardeners, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Offices, soup kitchens, food banks, libraries, Head Start programs, prisons, American Indian Reservations, senior centers and other community groups in all 50 states to grow food for hungry people, teach best nutrition practices and promote environmental stewardship.
Operation Green Plant has:
* Saved more than 800 tons of seed and 7 million flower bulbs from going to waste in landfills
* Distributed enough vegetable seed to grow 1.75 billion pounds of fresh produce for food insecure Americans
* Distributed 650,000 pounds of flower seed and 7 million flower bulbs to care for roadways, public lands and neighborhoods across America
* Provided over 30,000 pounds of seeds to people adversely impacted by Gulf Coast Hurricanes, Iowa floods and West Coast wildfires.
Partners:
America the Beautiful Fund has worked with the Cooperative Extension Service, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, Master Gardeners program, Junior Master Gardeners program, Future Farmers of America, The National Grange, The Daughters of the American Revolution, The Colonial Dames, The General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Ag in the Classroom, 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy and Girl Scouts, Food Stamp Offices, Feeding America (Second Harvest) food banks, Soil and Water Conservation Service, and others.
Contact:
Primary: Nanine Bilski President America the Beautiful Fund (202) 638-1649
Secondary: Bob Cashdollar (202)728-4058
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