The Annual Star-Seed Exchange Expo

The first Star Seed Exchange was held nearly fifty years ago in a small community on the planet Livio in the Federate Territories of Vash. Founded and operated by a handful of local farmers, the original event, simply called the Star-Seed Exchange, was a small and somewhat intimate affair. It was an event held outdoors, with a few small stalls where farmers would sell their produce to locals and the farmers and their operators would gather and chat. Trading stories, making handshake deals, and of course, trading seeds.   The purpose of this first seed exchange was primarily to cultivate community and connections among mainly on-planet farmers on Livio, though some close off-world farmers did stop by. And as a show of goodwill and connection, each farmer would present the other with a small packet of seeds cultivated from each farm. In subsequent years, the annual tradition would grow to include the trading of rare or difficult-to-cultivate seeds to help with the planet's biodiversity. The practice was never done for money and was only ever done as a sign of goodwill or in a hand-to-hand trade, seed for seed.   As the years passed, the exchange continued and grew, slowly increasing in size and popularity. By its third year, it was officially called the Annual Star-Seed Exchange; the “Expo” wouldn’t be tacked on until many years later. Still held on Livio, the exchange eventually turned into a lively festival with dozens of vendors, singers, and even rides and activities for the whole family to enjoy. But at its core, the exchange's values remained the same; it was about connection and community, with the exchanging of seeds an integral part of the event.   Unfortunately, this traditional Livio-based exchange would change drastically when the rights to the Star-Seed Exchange name were sold to a new, more business-minded operator.   Sadly, the founders of the Star-Seed Exchange slowly aged and fell to sickness or otherwise. Each of them would do right by the other, though, giving their share of the ownership to the surviving acting members of the operating team of the exchange, allowing it to continue on as a locally run event.   Unfortunately, the founders would soon dwindle to one, Barlo Rangari of Rangari Family Farms. Due to the overwhelming pressures of the growing festival and difficulties on the farm, seemingly coincidental market pressures and a lack of sales put operations of Barlo’s family business in jeopardy. Because of this, Barlo had a choice: let his multi-generation farm close or sell the rights to the Annual Star-Seed Exchange so he could fund the farm until the market picked up. He chose the latter. Barlo, of course, did this out of love for his farm and the financial safety of his family, ensuring that the farm would at least be around long enough to pass down to his adult children.   The buyers of the exchange were AGRO-Technica; they promised Barlo that they would keep the local exchange as it always had been. They would merely continue their operation so that all could continue enjoying it. And for the first year or two, they did so. But unfortunately, though to no one's surprise, this MegaCorpo giant smelled the potential for profits and would mutate the once traditional exchange into a nigh unrecognizable form.   Operating under AGRO-Technica, the Annual Star-Seed Exchange Expo, the “Expo” being added by AGRO-Technica, to make it sound more appealing to a larger audience (according to their statistics, at least), has changed its primary focus.   AGRO-Technica has co-opted management of the festival to one of its sub-contractors, a team of project managers who have an “expertise” in corporate events and highly profitable business-led fairs and festivals. Using a vast wealth of market research, they have transformed the community-led festival into a corporate-led extravaganza.   The rebranded Expo features the Intergalactic Farms Potluck, an event that challenges people to cook and present dishes to a quartet of celebrity chef judges on a live stage. The event is popular and brings in large crowds from both on-world and off. It is even filmed and broadcast as a popular television show. While seemingly harmless, this competition has stuffed the expo full of advertisements. With celebrity faces, businesses, and the like plastered over every wall and flat surface available. Making the Expo look like one long-running commercial, none of which is advertising local vendors or farms.   And while the event is still held on Livio, it is now held in a massive patch of land where several structures have been built to house the behemoth Expo that it has become. Each year, the land and the surrounding areas become trampled and damaged by thousands of feet and the treads of tires that storm the area. It has damaged the surrounding environment so thoroughly that nothing has grown there for several years now. And in between events, which have stretched from a few loops to an entire radial (see Measurements of Time in The Delta Space ), the large structures remain empty and silent, taking up precious agricultural land on Livio.   Now, the Annual Star-Seed Exchange Expo is merely a boisterous intergalactic potluck and talent show that pulls in people from across the Federated Territories of Vash to join in on what has become a large party. While people do enjoy it, its focus now lies in excess and profits instead of tradition, community, and good spirit. With the seed exchange that lends its name to the festival itself seemingly completely forgotten. Forgoing the community tradition for novelty snacks and questionable karaoke performances.   Only a small table, manned by an elderly representative of the farming community, sits in a dusty corner of the fair each year. With a bowl full of seed packets and a small sign that says, “Support local farms, take a seed packet and leave yours.”