Oakland Seed Farm and Nursery

 We have been granted permission by our main client and the City of Oakland to farm 38,000 square feet of space in North Oakland on the corner of 51st and Telegraph.  This site is the future location of a multi-use development in which Top Leaf Farms will be installing over an acre of rooftop farm--to produce food specifically for the people who live within a 3 mile radius. Our solar-powered farm will supply food by bicycle delivery to local residents and chefs as well as seeds and starts to local gardeners and other urban farmers. Our operation will start on the ground this year and as the building is built, it will continue its growth on the rooftop. 
The first steps are to establish a nursery and grow trials of what we think will perform well, save seeds and do it again.

Why Seeds? We often ask ourselves where does our food come from? Who was the person who grew it? How far did it travel and how many hands touched it before it arrived on my plate? And we rarely ask “Where did the seeds that grew this food come from?” The answer is hard to track. The seed industry is one of the only production systems in the world that is not required to list its point-of-origin and yet all the potential and energy of the produce we eat is embedded within the seed. The top 10 seed companies own over 70% of the world's commercial seed industry and Monsantonow owns over 25%. How much of this seed is organic? Not much. Only 0.9% of the world’s commercial food production is considered organic. We need more organic seeds to grow our organic food and our efforts are addressing this simple fact. Only about 40% of the seeds that we have commercial access to here in the US are from a certified organic source.   
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However this model is not the only way to grow food nor grow seeds.   Many farmers all over the world grow and save their own seeds. it is estimated that 70% of the world's food supply is grown by small farmers and 80-90% of their seeds are sourced outside the commercial market. Urban Agriculture on a global scale produces an astonishing 15 to 20 percent of the world’s food, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that 800 million people worldwide grow vegetables or fruits or raise animals in cities.  Most of these small farmers including many in the US are subject to corporate and political undermining, which makes it hard for them to thrive. We are contributing to a new model of farming that is rising in our country and worldwide--one that it is ecologically and economically just and does not rely on fossil fuels for production and distribution. 

Why Now?We are approaching unprecedented situations in regards to resource depletion and climate change. Both of these factors influence our food supply dramatically. On average the food that is on your plate has travelled over 1500 miles, and oil is the main driver, so is the means in which it is produced. The climate is changing and our plants and crops are needing to adapt. Heirloom varieties have been proven to be more resilient than their conventional counterparts to climatic factors such as drought, unseasonal weather patterns and pests. At the same time the corporations that control most of our seeds are beginning to gain more control of what is grown and who owns it. This situation is causing farmers to be servants and sometimes slaves of the global industrial agriculture complex rather than the stewards of culture and life as they have been for eons. The time has never been more important to reclaim our seed sovereignty and ensure this diversity of life for the future. 
 What does ‘Urban Adapted’ mean and why is this important? Most seed companies get their seeds from large corporate seed farms based halfway around the world.  These seeds carry with them the characteristics from their point of origin and begin to adapt to their new climate once they are planted. In just one season a plant will adapt and we can select for certain traits that will allow the next generation to perform better.  The varieties that the farmer has access today has been severely reduced. In the last 100 years we have lost over 96% of seeds that were commercially available, thus the development and breeding of new seeds is crucial and especially for the evolution of Urban Agriculture. Right now, the seeds most urban growers use are not bred and developed specifically for urban conditions and our particular Nor Cal microclimate. We are planning to help change that. ​