About MASA

Our Mission

MASA Seed Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization based in Boulder, Colorado. Our mission is holistic and wide-reaching. We strive to:

    • Build a bio-regional seed bank

    • Form a multi-demographic Seed Growers Cooperative

    • Distribute organic seeds and produce for Hunger Relief

    • Facilitate educationally-driven Volunteer Programs in agriculture, horticulture and permaculture

    • Teach & assist local growers with their residential and farm landscapes to grow food sustainably and locally

  • MASA Seed Foundation focuses directly on growing and adapting Farm and Garden Seeds for local and national distribution. Our Mission/vision entails securing a Front Range Seed Bank of tried and true, rigorously selected heirloom and traditional food plant varieties that are adaptable to climate shifts and front range soils. Securing seeds is foundational work for a deeper sense of regional food sovereignty. Supporting the depth of research entailed in raising seeds will help support MASA's Farm to Food Bank initiative to feed as many people as possible from our 20 acres of seeds and 50 tons of produce from our seed production fields.

Our Values

  • Progression & Innovation

  • Diversity & Inclusion ~ Both Plants & People

  • Evolution & Transformation of our Modern Food Systems

  • Seed, Food, Plant, and Personal Sovereignty

  • Bridging Regional Demographics

  • Cultivating Community

Our Vision

Back to Our Roots: Food, Seeds & Community

In less than 100 years, humanity has gone from maintaining heirloom seeds traditionally around the globe to an industrially-controlled food system with GMO seeds as the driving force. Simultaneously, pressing global issues such as climate change, species extinctions and soil degradation compel us to grow new multicultural roots and create elegant solutions that provide for our basic needs: food, seeds & community!

Around five decades ago, a movement began in an attempt to recover seed and food sovereignty and re-establish “public domain” plant breeding. MASA focuses on re-establishing food and seed growing as fertile ground for creating community. Through reconnecting with the earth and our food, we reconnect with each other and our diverse cultural roots. We create wider access to fresh and healthy food and seed for low-income, underprivileged, undernourished and diverse populations. We are in a unique position to honor the efforts of our ancestors, while securing viable agricultural options for the future of our children and generations to come.

 

 

 

Meet the Founder

Richard Pecoraro, founder of MASA

In 1990 the MASA Seed Project’s founder, Richard Pecoraro, helped facilitate the launching of the nations first 100% organic non-hybrid seed company “Seeds of Change.” He served as co-director of seed production, harvest and post-harvest handling (seed cleaning and processing), and as a co-author of detailed crop information for 5 years until branching off to engage a new agricultural-related enterprise called Abbondanza (which means “abundance” in Italian).

Abbondanza Organic Seeds and Produce operated as a regional seeds and produce organization from 1996-2015. It began in Gila, New Mexico when its owner Richard Pecoraro  branched off from “Seeds of Change” and opted to utilize his seed training to create an organic seed and vegetable producing system that became the rural areas #1 resource for both. They applied traditional seed breeding methods for crop improvement to create a “Community Supported Agricultural Model” unknown to most at the time. After 5 years he moved north to Boulder Colorado to expand on their concepts and continue the development of a Bio-Regional Seed Foundation for the Front Range. From 2002-2015 they practiced and excelled in the small scale production of organic seeds and produce. At their peak, they cultivated 50 acres, providing 400 CSA members with seasonal produce, while selling their locally adapted seeds and produce at the Boulder Farmers Market and new trending gourmet restaurants. Their visions and goals never changed… To provide organically grown produce from their own “Regionally Adapted” seeds!

Meet Our Team

Board of Directors

  • Jonathan Smollens, Structural Engineer
  • Ben Murray, Plant Horticulturist

Pending New Members

  • Joan Hobbs, Treasurer
  • Mary Rochelle, Outreach
  • Nolan Kane, CU Research Projects

 

Agriculture Director 
  • Richard Pecoraro - Founder, Agricultural Expeditions Director. 

Home Crew

  • Mike Feltheim - Field Manager
  • Unity Kin - Assistant Manager 
  • Spencer Olson - Equipment Operations Manager/Grounds, Maintenance 
  • Laura Allard - Farm Operations Manager
  • Christopher Wermuth - Plant Nursery  Manager
  • Stephanie Hein - Floristry Department and Events
  • Tyler Ellison - Plant Nursery Manager
  • April Servold. - Farm Operations Support Crew 

Volunteers of the Year

  • Many of you :)

MASA in the News and in Our Community