Origins and Timeline of CRS
Updated: Sep 28, 2020
2010 - 2020
The origins for Eric that led to Coast Range Seed trace back to 2010 political economy of agriculture readings at UC Berkeley, and six months in northern Nicaragua in 2011 as a young researcher learning from small-scale corn and bean breeders. Especially profound was Nicaragua's farmer-to-farmer innovation model and network of communities.
By 2013 the next phase of the CRS idea was underway,as Eric went to Southern Oregon to apprentice in the seed producer and farmer-breeder community, and co-founding a seed growers organization with other Southern Oregon growers. Two years later, he returned to the Bay Area and worked retail organic produce for 15 months while farming for local farms on the side and searching for a suitable place to start a project. This 2015 produce year was the next phase for the CRS concept -- integrating an understanding of produce marketing and supply chains into the existing picture of seed farming, breeding, and veg growing.
The CRS years and Carol Deppe, and Jonathan Spero