Casey Piscura on Landrace Seed Breeding & Food Resilience
This month, we are honoring Casey Piscura, one of our peers in mountain farming and food systems education. He was the force behind Wild Mountain Seeds and was one of this country’s seed visionaries, experimenting with cutting-edge landrace plant breeding techniques to create new vegetable varieties that are adapted to harsh mountain growing conditions. Those who knew Casey describe him as one of the hardest-working and driven people they’ve ever met, and he was a foundation of Western Colorado’s food and seed systems. Casey died by suicide last month on February 2nd at the age of 39. His loss is devastating—he was an inspiration to so many people.
This month’s recommended podcast is a conversation with Casey recorded in 2020. He describes his innovative methods for seed breeding at his zone 3 farm in Carbondale, Colorado, his no-till methods, and the struggles of making an ecologically-responsible farm financially viable.
More Tributes to Casey Piscura
• The local Farm Talk radio show’s tribute to Casey
• Aspen Daily News obituary for Casey Piscura