The Iraqi Seed Project

Short Synopsis

The Iraqi Seed Project is a cross-platform educational resource and media project examining the long history of agriculture in Iraq and the legacy left to farmers in the region after years of war, sanctions and environmental neglect.

Description/Treatment

Project Summary: After the US-led invasion of Iraq tore through Baghdad in 2003, much news coverage was devoted to the looting of the Iraqi Museum, but the destruction of another national treasure missed the headlines: the ransacking of the national seed collection housed at Abu Ghraib.  In a world where global agriculture is dominated by only a handful of crops, the destruction of native plant varieties from the birthplace of agriculture is a devastating loss not only to Iraq, but also to the agricultural heritage of our planet.  In a collection of 5 short films and an interactive website The Iraqi Seed Project is a cross-cultural educational resource seeking to virtually rebuild Iraq’s lost seed collection by telling the stories of Iraq’s farmers and exploring the country’s rich agricultural history. There is currently no place to give or receive information about the status of agriculture in Iraq, our website will act as that meeting point, raising awareness in Iraq and abroad about the urgent need to protect Iraq’s agricultural heritage.

Background: Wheat, barley, lentils, onions, and grapes are just some of the crops with ancient roots in Iraq. Yet war and environmental degradation have had brutal effects on this land where agriculture was born over 10,000 years ago.  Today Iraq imports the majority of its food supply; the few local producers who are able to still farm cannot keep their prices low enough to compete with the cheap foreign imports flooding the marketplace; Iraqi farmers are struggling to keep food on their family’s table.  The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture is now exploring the possibility of selling off its agricultural land to foreign investors in the hope of creating jobs and generating income. After oil, agriculture has historically been Iraq’s second largest economic sector, employing 30% of the population, for future stability and health of the people this natural resource should not fall into foreign hands.  A breakdown of irrigation infrastructure, issues of soil salinity and ongoing economic sanctions further threaten the lives and livelihood of small-scale farmers in Iraq.  With an aging population, dwindling numbers, and difficulties competing in a global economy, small-scale farmers across the world are experiencing similar hardships. The Iraqi Seed Project starts where agriculture began but speaks to far reaching issues affecting farmers and farmland worldwide.

 Project Treatment: The Iraqi Seed Project tells the story of Iraqi farmers- past and present- with an interactive website, collection of short films, and real-life exchange.

THE FILMS: Part of the project is a collection of 5 short films intended for the educational market, with a total running time of 74 minutes, they can be screened separately or in a series, and explore different aspects of agricultural life from ancient times to today. A brief outline of each film follows:

• Advice from a Farmer to His Son – Excerpts from an ancient text found at Nippur, Iraq, dubbed “the first farmer’s almanac,” are interwoven with stylized interviews and vérité vignettes of international reconstruction efforts.

• KRG provides economic incentives to encourage young people to return to agrarian life.  A vérité documentary follows a young farmer in Northern Iraq as he moves to the country.

 • The First Shade Garden – A stop-motion animation based on an ancient Sumerian text. A farmer receives divine gardening guidance, then violates the fertility goddess, invoking her rage upon the land.

• A Short History of Saline Soil – We explore the causes and possible solutions to soil salination: a perennial issue in Iraqi agriculture. Both over-irrigation and neglect can lead to devastating condition.

• National Treasures – Abu Ghraib was home to an experimental farm and seed collection from the 1930s until 2003.  What happened to these seeds, and can the collection be restored?  We look at the history, people who worked to save it, and the influx of “improved” local seed varieties and mono-crops, such as corn and soybeans. 

THE WEBSITE: Using native crops as a point of embarkation, the website seeks to virtually rebuild Iraq’s lost seed collection.  It hosts a growing collection of videos, photos, interviews, essays and testimonies from scholars, activists, farmers and citizens that explore the social, political and historical realities of farming in Iraq.  Visitors to the site can respond to this content, or submit their own unique content. Topics covered in this section are: crops, ancient history, modern history, issues currently affecting farmers, what people are doing about those issues, knowledge of farmers (record Iraqi and western farmers sharing their experience).  All content on the website will be translated into English, Arabic and Kurdish so that it can be used as a resource for those in Iraq and abroad.  The resources gathered and presented on the project’s website can be used as an educational research tool for farmers, analysts, non-profits, students and agricultural policy makers.  This exchange of ideas and knowledge about farming is an integral part of The Iraqi Seed Project and is meant to break down the isolation in Iraq caused by years of war and political instability. The web is the best medium for this because it crosses geographic boundaries and can be used worldwide.

THE EXCHANGE: The exchange will not stop online or in the screening room.  In an effort to dissuade Iraqi farmers from abandoning their native crops and agrarian traditions, the real life Seed Exchange facilitates a seed swap and knowledge exchange between small Iraqi farms and small farms in North America and Europe. I also hope to arrange a week-long seminar in Northern Iraq bringing together Iraqi farmers and leaders in the sustainable food movement abroad.