Jane Rabinowicz

Executive Director / Directrice générale, SeedChange

Executive Director of a non-profit working with farmers to grow better food and seeds ecologically around the world / Directrice générale d'un organisme voué à l'agriculture écologique, aux semences et au soutien des fermiers autour du monde.

Media

We Are Canada

CBC, May 14, 2017Television

URL: http://watch.cbc.ca/we-are-canada/season-1/episode-6/38e815a-00c4071d528

Jane Rabinowicz is one of 18 young Canadians featured by WE ARE CANADA, a six-part documentary series that celebrates the next generation of passionate Canadian changemakers.

Narrated by Sarah Polley and conceived and produced in collaboration with Ken Dryden, WE ARE CANADA featured 18 stories selected from across the country.

36-year-old Jane Rabinowicz from Montreal, whose mission is to conserve and advance seed biodiversity, keep seed in the public domain, breed new varieties of grain, and promote ecological seed production, was featured in the series' final episode on May 14, 2017 at 7 p.m. (7:30 p.m. NT) on CBC.

A French-language version of the series aired on ICI Radio-Canada Télé and ICI RDI: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/blogue/1044123/ils-font-le-canada

La Semaine Verte

Radio-Canada, March 25, 2017Television

URL: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/la-semaine-verte/2016-2017/episodes/377422/controle-semences-agriculture

(Entrevue avec Jane Rabinowicz débute à 5:05 min)

Depuis 12 000 ans, des générations de paysans ont sélectionné les semences afin de domestiquer des plantes sauvages. Encore aujourd’hui, l’essentiel de notre alimentation provient d’une semence. Mais leur diversité diminue à un rythme alarmant.

L’humanité ne compte plus que sur une dizaine de plantes pour se nourrir. Le contrôle des semences par les multinationales de l’agrochimie accélère le déclin de la biodiversité cultivée. Comment sauver ce qui reste de semences? La réserve mondiale du Svalbard située au cœur de l’Arctique, en Norvège, parviendra-t-elle à protéger le patrimoine semencier de l’humanité?

Devant les défis que posent les changements climatiques, la diversité génétique des semences est plus que jamais essentielle pour notre sécurité alimentaire.

Food 53

Globe and Mail, August 10, 2016Print

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/the-food53-the-thinkers/article31335634/#rabinowicz

Recognized as one of Canada's 8 most influential "Thinkers" when it comes to Canadian Food, as part of the Globe and Mail's "Food 53" series (2016). The article highlights Jane Rabinowicz's work leading the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, USC Canada's program to rebuild the diversity of Canadian farmer-saved seeds. Series description: "This summer, the Globe names, and celebrates, the most influential people in Canadian food – chefs and CEOs, farmers and winemakers, plus researchers, restaurateurs and, of course, eaters."

COVID-19 is creating a food crisis and Canada needs to respond

The Santropol Roulant & Alternatives Rooftop Garden: Reflections on an Innovative Collaboration.

Published by Recipes for Success

April 28, 2017

Co-authored by Alex Hill and Jane Rabinowicz

URL: http://archives.rooftopgardens.ca/files/Reflections.doc

The Greatest Story Never Told - Building Seed Security in Canada

Published by The Canadian Organic Grower Magazine

November 17, 2013

"(...) Local food does not necessarily mean local seed. In fact, most vegetable seed planted on farms in Canada comes from beyond our borders. It is not bred for Canada’s diverse growing environments, or organic production systems. These facts have not yet made it to the forefront of the local food movement, in part I believe due to the fact that seed producers are that extra step removed from the consumer."

URL: http://magazine.cog.ca/the-greatest-story-never-told-building-seed-security-in-canada/

Changing dynamics in the Canadian voluntary sector: Challenges in sustaining organizational capacity to support healthy communities.

Published by Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. Vol. 126 No. 6 pp 275-279 Nov. 2006

Co-authored by Jane Rabinowicz and Eric Steedman

URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17152321

Biography

Jane Rabinowicz is a dynamic nonprofit leader working to advance food sovereignty and seed security in Canada and 11 other countries around the world.

In 2016, she was named one of the 53 most influential people in the food system in Canada by The Globe and Mail. She was also featured on CBC’s “We Are Canada” documentary series about the next generation of change-makers.

As Executive Director of USC Canada, Rabinowicz is at the head of Canada's most comprehensive seed program, working to rebuild the diversity, quality, and quantity of Canadian seeds. She also oversees programs promoting seed biodiversity and supporting small-scale farmers in 11 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Rabinowicz can speak firsthand of the growing movement to grow food ecologically and to reverse agricultural biodiversity loss in Canada and globally.

USC Canada is one of Canada's longest-standing international cooperation organizations. Founded in 1945 by Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, the organization has been supporting small scale farmers for 50 years, and worked exclusively on seed and ecological farming programming since the mid-2000s.

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Jane Rabinowicz travaille pour promouvoir la souveraineté alimentaire et la sécurité semencière au Canada et dans 11 pays du Sud.

En 2016, elle figurait sur la liste du Globe and Mail des 53 personnes qui ont le plus d’influence sur le système alimentaire canadien. Elle a également fait partie d'un documentaire de Radio-Canada sur la prochaine génération de jeunes leaders innovateurs et passionnés.

Jane s'exprime couramment dans les deux langues officielles sur les enjeux reliés à l’alimentation, l’agriculture et les semences. Elle possède une grande expertise sur les initiatives citoyennes pour soutenir la souveraineté alimentaire, l’agriculture écologique (agroécologie), la diversité des semences, et les droits des paysans, fermiers et agriculteurs.

Rabinowicz est Directrice générale d’USC Canada, une organisation à but non lucratif fondée en 1945 qui soutient les fermiers de famille à l'échelle globale depuis 50 ans, et se spécialise en agriculture et semences écologiques depuis plus de 10 ans. L'organisme gère aujourd'hui le plus grand programme citoyen relié aux semences au Canada.

Recognition/Reconnaissance

Recognized as one of Canada's Food "Thinkers" by the Globe and Mail (August 2016) | Professional

Recognized as one of Canada's 8 most influential "Thinkers" when it comes to Canadian Food, as part of the Globe and Mail's "Food 53" series (2016).

The article highlights Jane's previous position, leading USC Canada's domestic program, called The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security. Jane has since become USC Canada's Executive Director.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/the-food53-the-thinkers/article31335634/#rabinowicz

Past Talks

Terroir Symposium

Panel: Breeding for diversity and seed security

Toronto, ON, April 24, 2016

Seed Savers Exchange

Keynote, with Susie Walsh: From Seeds of Survival to Seeds of Resilience

Decorah, IA, July 1, 2015

Organic Seed Alliance

Panel: Building Resilient Seed Systems

Corvallis, OR, February 1, 2016

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements

Panel: Sowing Seeds of Knowledge

Istanbul, October 1, 2014

Canadian Climate Forum

Panel: Food Security, the North, and the Challenge of Seeds

Ottawa, ON, November 1, 2015

Expertise

  • Souveraineté alimentaire
  • Small-scale farmers in Latin America, Africa and Asia
  • Small-scale farming
  • Sécurité alimentaire
  • Production et conservation des semences agricoles
  • Organismes génétiquement modifiés (OGM)
  • Local Food Systems
  • Heirloom seeds
  • Global South
  • Genetically engineered (GE) foods
  • Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
  • Food Security
  • Food Sovereignty
  • Food and farming policy
  • Farmer-saved seeds
  • Ecological farming (agroecology)
  • Ecological seed production and conservation
  • Agriculture locale
  • Agriculture biologique
  • Agriculture de proximité
  • Agriculture écologique (agroécologie)

Education/Éducation

  • McGill University
    Environmental Studies
    B.A., 2003