Thousands of heirloom garden varieties are maintained in our collections at Heritage Farm, making SSE the largest non-governmental seedbank of its kind in the United States. The collections grow by freewill donation from farmers and gardeners, who send their stories along with their seed. We acquire, maintain, and share these varieties with others.

Current Projects

Member-Grower Evaluation Network (M-Gen)

M-GEN is an opportunity for dedicated SSE members to participate in our plant evaluation process. More

Collection Origins Research Effort (CORE)

SSE staff are researching the origins of accessions with incomplete documentation.... More

Virus-free seed Potatoes

SSE was invited to collaborate with researchers in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. More

New bar-coding system

A new bar-coding system is improving our management of the collections. More