Alexis Yamashita
Ph.D. Candidate, Food Systems
Gund Graduate Fellow
Advisor: Daniel Tobin
Co-advisor: David Conner
- Master of Business Administration, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance, Virginia Commonwealth University
BIO
Alexis Yamashita is a Food Systems Ph.D. student and Gund Institute Graduate Fellow at the University of Vermont. Her work is dedicated to strengthening alternative, regionally based seed systems, enhancing seed biodiversity and localized seed access, cooperative development, and collective organizing. She is a founding member and former co-director of the BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) seed farming collective Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance. Her introduction to seeds came through her time at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a worker cooperative seed company in Mineral, Virginia that maintains a catalog of over 800 organic, heirloom, and open pollinated seed varieties. While at Southern Exposure, she was a co-manager of the seed racks division and worked closely with her mentor Ira Wallace. Her collective experiences also include being a community planner and member of Twin Oaks Community, the oldest egalitarian, income sharing intentional community in the United States. Her current research work at UVM is focused on the regional adaptation of culturally meaningful seed varieties through community-based, participatory plant breeding efforts.
Bio
Alexis Yamashita is a Food Systems Ph.D. student and Gund Institute Graduate Fellow at the University of Vermont. Her work is dedicated to strengthening alternative, regionally based seed systems, enhancing seed biodiversity and localized seed access, cooperative development, and collective organizing. She is a founding member and former co-director of the BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) seed farming collective Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance. Her introduction to seeds came through her time at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a worker cooperative seed company in Mineral, Virginia that maintains a catalog of over 800 organic, heirloom, and open pollinated seed varieties. While at Southern Exposure, she was a co-manager of the seed racks division and worked closely with her mentor Ira Wallace. Her collective experiences also include being a community planner and member of Twin Oaks Community, the oldest egalitarian, income sharing intentional community in the United States. Her current research work at UVM is focused on the regional adaptation of culturally meaningful seed varieties through community-based, participatory plant breeding efforts.