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
(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
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
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