Kent Whealy (April 27, 1946 – March 23, 2018) was an American activist, journalist and philanthropist who co-founded Seed Savers Exchange and promoted organic agriculture and the saving of heirloom seeds.Genetic erosion threatens crop strains, by Greg Smith, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1989. Raised in Wellington, Kansas he was inspired by the works of agricultural geneticists Jack Harlan and H.Garrison Wilkes to use his training in communications to promote the protection of genetic diversity in agriculture.Saving of Seeds of the World, by Kent Whealy, Earth Island Journal, 1999.
Career Kent Whealy graduated from the University of Kansas in 1969Seeds Savers Week Proclamation, Office of the Mayor of Lawrence, Kansas, April 19, 2005. with a degree in journalism., Mother Earth News, January/February 1982. He started a family garden in 1975 which through various land acquisitions he helped developed into the Heritage FarmFood Ark, by Charles Sieber, National Geographic Magazine, July 2011. six miles north of Decorah, Iowa growing nearly 2,000 varieties of vegetables.Seeds of promise, by Alan Pell Crawford, Vegetarian Times, April 1, 2005.
In 1990, Whealy received a Fellowship from the MacArthur Fellows Program for his work in agriculture. Whealy was also awarded the N. I. Vavilov medal from the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg. In 1981, Kent Whealy first used the word 'heirloom' in regard to seeds, using it to describe beans that his friend gave him.
Seed Savers Exchange Whealy co-founded Seed Savers Exchange, Inc. in 1975, with then wife Diane Ott publishing an annual yearbook identifying heirloom seed varieties available for sale in North America.The Plowboy Interview, Mother Earth News, 1982. The organization evolved into a private seed bank, collecting and saving heirloom varieties of vegetable, fruit and grain seeds. In 1985, the group extended its reach to include maintaining an ancient rare breed of White Park cattle.Ancient cattle breed preserved at Seed Savers, by Marlene Lucas, Associated Press, April 12, 2004. Whealy left Seed Savers board in 2007.Kent Whealy’s Speech at the Land Institute September 26, 2010: The Documenting of Heritage Apples – Part 2, by K. McDonald, Big Picture Agriculture, October 5, 2010 (). By the time of his split with the organization Whealy and then former wife Dianne Ott were credited with helping to create one of the largest nongovernmental seed banks with more than 25,000 varieties.Sow What? Savings Seeds Ensures Plenty, by Barbara Damrosch, The Washington Post, August 6, 2009.Controversy With The Doomsday Vault, by Deniza Gertzberg, GMO Journal, March 22, 2012.
Ceres Trust In 2009 Whealy became a trustee with the Ceres Trust. Via the Ceres Trust Whealy funds research and advocacy campaigns in support of organic agriculture.Ceres Trust announces competition for $500,000 in organic research grants, New Agriculture Network, June 9, 2009 ().Ceres Trust Mission Statement, Ceres Trust website, accessed December 2012. Their initiatives include academic research and consumer education campaigns including funding for the production and promotion of documentaries including Sandra Steingraber's movie Living DownstreamLiving Downstream in the Community, The People's Picture Company, 2012. on the dangers of pesticides and The Vanishing of the BeesThe Vanishing of the Bees , Grantmakers in Film & Electronic Media, 2010. on the role pesticides play in Colony Collapse Disorder, and other advocacy in partnership in support of organic agriculture with the Pesticide Action Network advocacy group. National Organic Coalition 2012 budget, National Organic Coalition, February 9, 2012.Kent Whealy’s Speech at the Land Institute September 26, 2010: The Documenting of Heritage Apples – Part 1, by K. McDonald, Big Picture Agriculture, October 5, 2010 ().
JAK KAW Press In 2015 Kent Whealy formed his own publishing company (JAK KAW Press, LLC) to ensure that Dan Bussey's extensive research on apples and the appropriate pomological watercolors are recorded for posterity.
Advocacy Whealy was an outspoken supporter of organic agriculture and the Slow Food movementGenerosity to farmers crops up, by Shiela Stroup, Times Picayune, June 15, 2006. and critic of pesticides and genetically modified crops calling their use "immoral."New Technology Would Help Seed Companies Protect Research Investments, by Lance Nixon, Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News (Aberdeen American News), August 8, 1999. In 2012, he was listed among the largest financial donors in support of a California ballot initiative campaign to label foods derived from genetically engineered plants and animals.Prop. 37 backers vow to continue food regulation efforts, by Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times, November 7, 2012.
Bibliography
Books by Kent Whealy, Amazon.com, author's page accessed December 2012.
References