Post by loamlump on Apr 10, 2006 13:49:52 GMT -5
Over the last century, many of the varieties in food crops have been tossed aside for newer hybrid cultivars that offer increased disease resistance, quantities and qualities. Hybrids are more "in-tune" with today's agriculture methods and long-distance shipping. The recent decline in the use of traditional regional cultivars is global, and is shrinking the genetic diversity of our food crops.
There is a need for bio-diversity now, and it will become even more important as our human race advances into the centuries to come. A broad and healthy agricultural gene pool offers a greater source of varieties that are pest- and disease-resistant. With the environment changing, we need to be prepared to change with it. Our crops must also be ready to adapt. While the science lab can and could create foods that will have particular abilities, these seeds will always be dependent on the lab to continue the supply, and these new genetically modified seeds will only be available to those that can pay for them.
People have another choice. We can grow and maintain the genetic diversity that we have now, and rely on these seeds to adapt and give us the cheaper ability to feed ourselves.
In the potato famine of the 1840's is a very good example of how limited genetics within a species can result in complete destruction. It was a virus that spread in the damp soil of the British Isles and into Europe. Millions of people died as a direct or indirect result of the potato virus, and it changed the face of North America.
The potatoes growing pre-1840 were all genetically identical, although 'sports' and variants were given different names. The virus was lethal to the particular potato being grown in Britain and Europe. There were no other 'heirlooms' available to quickly fall back on, to breed into the ailing variety and save the crops.
Eventually, the potato was saved by going back to it's origins: Mexico and South America, where there were varieties that were resistant to the potato virus. If these were not still in cultivation, the entire family of potatoes would be now extinct. Science has now given us the reasons and solutions to the virus, but during the crisis, it didn't help the people starving to death.
When will the next mega-virus be unleashed, into what food crop, and will we have the means to save not only that particular crop, but possibly our very lives?
If we as growers maintain the genetic diversity of our food, the future is safe in this regard.
Of the 270,000 plant species living on our planet, only 5 cultivated crops - wheat, rice, corn, potatoes and barley - account for 53% of world food production. More than 80% of world food production relies on but 20 crop species! Where would the Earth be if a devastating blight removed but one of the five crops?
Saving your own seed doesn't have to be about saving the world. however. As growers, we are satisfied very much by growing our own food, a kind of self-sufficiency that is pleasing in that we know what went into the growing, and we can deliver fresh food by the work of our own hands.
Saving your own seed is also self sufficiency feeling. Once you get over the initial nervousness, pick up a few basic principles and techniques, it really is a simple thing to do. People have been doing it successfully since humans first scratched a hole in the earth and dropped in a seed.
This all said, I am reminded of my Aunt Ada, who will always be my guide in growing. She said that in the end, a seed is a seed. Whether it feeds, helps your body, mind or soul, it doesn't really matter whether it came from a hybrid or a open pollinated source. This bank, while forwarding the cultivation of open-pollinated varieties, will offer and trade hybrids as well. They have their place, for certain.
We will not, however, support genetically modified seed. There is no need to get political about it, but as far as we gardeners are concerned, GMO varieties cannot be sustained by our group.
The next thread will start on terms and basic techniques used in seed saving.
There is a need for bio-diversity now, and it will become even more important as our human race advances into the centuries to come. A broad and healthy agricultural gene pool offers a greater source of varieties that are pest- and disease-resistant. With the environment changing, we need to be prepared to change with it. Our crops must also be ready to adapt. While the science lab can and could create foods that will have particular abilities, these seeds will always be dependent on the lab to continue the supply, and these new genetically modified seeds will only be available to those that can pay for them.
People have another choice. We can grow and maintain the genetic diversity that we have now, and rely on these seeds to adapt and give us the cheaper ability to feed ourselves.
In the potato famine of the 1840's is a very good example of how limited genetics within a species can result in complete destruction. It was a virus that spread in the damp soil of the British Isles and into Europe. Millions of people died as a direct or indirect result of the potato virus, and it changed the face of North America.
The potatoes growing pre-1840 were all genetically identical, although 'sports' and variants were given different names. The virus was lethal to the particular potato being grown in Britain and Europe. There were no other 'heirlooms' available to quickly fall back on, to breed into the ailing variety and save the crops.
Eventually, the potato was saved by going back to it's origins: Mexico and South America, where there were varieties that were resistant to the potato virus. If these were not still in cultivation, the entire family of potatoes would be now extinct. Science has now given us the reasons and solutions to the virus, but during the crisis, it didn't help the people starving to death.
When will the next mega-virus be unleashed, into what food crop, and will we have the means to save not only that particular crop, but possibly our very lives?
If we as growers maintain the genetic diversity of our food, the future is safe in this regard.
Of the 270,000 plant species living on our planet, only 5 cultivated crops - wheat, rice, corn, potatoes and barley - account for 53% of world food production. More than 80% of world food production relies on but 20 crop species! Where would the Earth be if a devastating blight removed but one of the five crops?
Saving your own seed doesn't have to be about saving the world. however. As growers, we are satisfied very much by growing our own food, a kind of self-sufficiency that is pleasing in that we know what went into the growing, and we can deliver fresh food by the work of our own hands.
Saving your own seed is also self sufficiency feeling. Once you get over the initial nervousness, pick up a few basic principles and techniques, it really is a simple thing to do. People have been doing it successfully since humans first scratched a hole in the earth and dropped in a seed.
This all said, I am reminded of my Aunt Ada, who will always be my guide in growing. She said that in the end, a seed is a seed. Whether it feeds, helps your body, mind or soul, it doesn't really matter whether it came from a hybrid or a open pollinated source. This bank, while forwarding the cultivation of open-pollinated varieties, will offer and trade hybrids as well. They have their place, for certain.
We will not, however, support genetically modified seed. There is no need to get political about it, but as far as we gardeners are concerned, GMO varieties cannot be sustained by our group.
The next thread will start on terms and basic techniques used in seed saving.
