
Sending Seeds to the Dominican Republic
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Inspired by Slow Food DC Share a Seed and endless conversations with Ysanet Batista and Dr. Saudi Garcia about what is my role as a diasporic Dominican to cultivate food sovereignty in my homeland of the Dominican Republic. I started a project sending seed packages to the Dominican Republic in 2022.
This year, 2025, for my birthday, I continue this fundraiser and leveraging my resources to support young, women, landless farmers in my homeland.
The pandemic and now economic recession are making clear the kind of inputs and resources needed to seed food sovereignty in my island nation that are not always available for the growers and their communities. Thanks to an annual generous donation from URI Cooperative Extension Free Seed Program I had been able to send over 20,000 seed packages to the Dominican Republic. I recognize that as a perfect model of food sovereignty, importing foreign seeds with a dependence of western and diaspora resources might be an assault on local foodways and create unhealthy viability concerns. But when I asked my Dominican community what they needed and what I could do to advance food sovereignty they all identified this as a gap I could fill.
In 2023 and 2024 we distributed 20,000 hortalizas (vegetables) seed packages to the following:
-Asociación Dominicana de Investigadores de Tecnologías Agrícolas
-Ministerio de Agricultura Oficina de Moca Provincia Espaillat, my hometown's office of agricultural and extension education
-Superate, a network of 45 women lead rural cooperatives
-Cabarete Sostenible
-Santiago Botanical Gardens
-Casa Dominicana, a network of Dominican farmers
-Asociacion Medio Ambiental del Puñal
-CONAMUCA, a via campesina member
-Collective of organic farmers in Samana
In 2025 we are seeking to fundraised $1000 US dollars to:
-Send again 10,000 seed packages to returning and new collaborators in the Dominican Republic
-Start a seed library and seed savings workshops with Tierra Negra Farm
-Cover educational fees for farmers to attend agroecology and permaculture workshops.
Please donate via:
PayPal: [email redacted]
Venmo: Vanessa-GarciaPolanco
Or here in gofundme!
Deadline to Donate is March 1st.
Organizer
Vanessa Garcia Polanco
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC