International Seed Day: Seeds and People
We are obsessed with seeds. They are living time capsules connecting us with future and past generations through visceral experiences of flavors and aromas. People and seeds have been long codependent on each other since the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural societies and this relationship is the cornerstone of distinct cultural landscapes.
Today is International Seed Day and we wanted to share a little bit of what Sông Cái Distillery is working on in regards to seeds and farmers.
Sông Cái Distillery has been working with farmers to continue the lineage of stewarding seeds by:
Collecting and propagating native seeds: We collect native seeds, their stories, and their cultural importance to the farming communities who continue to grow them. We work with local universities and farmers to cultivate seedstock (seed nurseries) that we distribute for free to farmers who need them.
Buying native crops from farming communities: We prioritize using and buying native crops. Our purchase contracts ensure a degree of financial security for farmers. As opposed to wholesale trade contracts which places all risk on farmers (there are no deposits or clauses to account for crop loss or environmental disasters), we provide farmers with upfront payments and clauses to ensure that farmers aren’t left empty handed if disaster strikes (in essence, we provide crop insurance that isn’t afforded to farmers in frontier markets).
Telling the story of farmers and seeds: We aren’t good at social media, but we are working to tell more stories of the farmers and the native seeds and crops that go into our products and are central to our company DNA. Please ask us questions!
Sông Cái Distillery and our farmer partners want to create Vietnam’s finest spirits, wines, ferments, and agricultural products using local heirloom ingredients and techniques.
The Spirit of Vietnam. For the unsung heroes.
