Julia Chang

I am a first year PhD student researching seed systems. I situate my research in agroecology, agrarian studies, and political economy. I am particularly interested in the movement of seed from the Global South to the Global North and the consolidation of plant germplasm into public and private institutions. I am interested in researching the historical context and current relationship between imperialism and agrobiodiversity. My research also seeks to understand how farmers practice seed-saving as a means of preserving cultural knowledge and adapting crops to withstand increasingly unpredictable weather conditions wrought by climate change.

Prior to beginning my doctoral work, I grew food at a variety of scales, from a community garden in Queens, NY; to a 7-acre mixed vegetable-livestock production farm in Rhode Island; and a 10-acre seed production farm in Mendocino County. I belong to the Second Generation Seeds Growers Collective, where I have undertaken projects saving and adapting seeds significant to Asian diasporas. I am also a co-facilitator of the QTBIPOC farmer cohort with the Cultivemos Network. In my life and work I hope to integrate multiple ways of knowing the earth--including modern scientific, embodied, and ancestral--to support movements for food//land//seed sovereignty.