Why Seed Diversity Matters for Agriculture - How to achieve sustainable food production for increased profit and well-being

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A landmark film narrated by Jeremy Irons. Find out more at seedsoffreedom.info The story of seed has become one of loss, control, dependence and debt. It’s been written by those who want to make vast profit from our food system, no matter what the true cost. It’s time to change the story. Produced by The Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network, in collaboration with MELCA Ethiopia, Navdanya International and GRAIN. Also available in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian. Visit www.seedsoffreedom.info

Seeds are the genesis of most every grain and vegetable crop every year. From the humble saved seed, civilizations have been anchored and thrived, while unique, regional foods flourished. Just a few decades ago, the act of seed saving was something every farmer knew. But this skill is quickly vanishing and taking regional food diversity with it. However, a movement involving communities and farmers across Wyoming and beyond is working to revive this essential practice – and the flavor, beauty and adventure that comes with it. We’ll explore a seed library and meet market farmers stewarding regionally adapted seeds passed down through generations.

From the archives: Oregon farmer Frank Morton, an organic seed breeder in the Willamette Valley, briefly discusses the emergence of hybrid seed technologies and the advantages they bring largely to the agri-chemical companies that sell the seeds. As Morton explains, with classical plant breeding, plants evolve over time within their native environments and remain fairly stable generation to generation. Hybrid technology is entirely different. The plants contain a certain set of desirable traits for a single generation, but in order to continue those traits in future harvests, farmers can’t reuse their seed they must purchase new supplies.

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It is suspected that the domestication of plants began about 12,000 years ago. The agricultural lifestyle was made possible by ancient civilizations testing different crops for redeeming qualities. When they found a desirable crop which tasted good and didn’t kill or harm them, they would save the seeds to plant for the next growing season or period of settlement. These ancient civilizations then realized that they could cross desirable plants with each other to produce improved varieties of crops. For example, a plant which produced sweet fruits could be crossed with another plant that produced large fruits. The nutrient-rich, delicious crops that we have today are only possible as a result of this process of naturally cultivating crops and then saving their seeds for future use.

According to a 2013 report by the Center for Food Safety and Save Our Seeds organization, Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta dominate 53 percent of our worldwide seed economy. By 2015, these companies had merged with others to control 62% of the seed shares. That means that just three corporations control well over half of our global food production system. Today, many of us stuff food in our mouths without thinking twice about the production process that went into it. Whether we are grocery shopping online with Amazon Fresh or hurriedly picking up fast-food in a drive-thru, there is no question that we have become increasingly isolated from our food production systems.

Although these massive firms claim to be working towards increased food accessibility and sustainability, their business practices demonstrate that they’re simply looking for more profits and ways in which they can guarantee farmers will have to rely on them. The domestication of plants and what we have come to know today as farming has always been dependent on farmers saving seeds for the upcoming growing season. However, with the rise of these conglomerates, agriculture practices have changed drastically over the past-half decade. Instead of using the classic practice of harvesting seeds, farmers are increasingly returning to these seed firms annually to purchase their patented and hybrid varieties in fear that they will be brought to court or face poor crop quality from the next generation of hybrid seeds.

An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, heritage fruit, or heirloom vegetable is an old cultivar of a plant used for food that is grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers, particularly in isolated or ethnic minority communities of the Western world. These were commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but are not used in modern large-scale agriculture.

Why Should You Care About Seed Diversity? Here are 7 Reasons

Traditional seed varieties have disappeared at an alarming rate – but there’s still a chance to preserve the astonishing genetic diversity that remains on the world’s farms. Here’s why it matters.

why seed diversity matters Radish seeds ready for spring planting. The U.S. lost 93 percent of vegetable varieties between 1903 and 1983.
Photography Michelle Lee Photography on Shutterstock.

In the meantime, a few of grain crops have come to dominate U.S. agriculture. Corn or soybeans are now planted on more than 50 percent of our nation’s arable acreage. About 90 percent of those acres are comprised of just a handful of genetically-engineered seeds varieties. In fact, there are just 12 varieties of corn remaining at the USDA’s National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado, compared to the 307 available at the turn of the 20^th century.

The decline of seed diversity is a result of the relentless effort to industrialize agriculture. While this approach has in many cases improved yields, it has not been without consequences. The good news is that today, hundreds of seed and crop preservation groups across the world are working to revive lost and endangered varieties. These seed activists believe the genetic diversity of crops to be one of humanity’s greatest assets. Here’s why.

Flavor Matters

Just ask the best chefs in the world. A Chinese ‘Red Meat‘ radish is a different animal altogether when compared to a ‘Spanish Black‘ radish. There are skinny ‘Rat’s Tail‘ radishes from India and 15-pound soccer ball-sized radishes from the Island of Sakurajima in Japan. The cornucopia of flavor found in the world’s heritage varieties alone is reason enough to preserve them.

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Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljthwaFUW1k

Big corporations have taken control of a vital commodity that is millions of years old: seeds. Researchers around the world are creating industrial hybrids of fruit and vegetables. What effect will this development have on human health?

Seeds of Sovereignty shows that farmers around the world have saved and bred an unimaginable wealth of seed diversity to meet many different challenges, but as corporate seed and chemicals replace farmers’ own ingenuity, this diversity is steadily disappearing. Reviving farmers’ in-depth knowledge of how to save and adapt seed is critical, and the film is aimed to encourage others to do so by setting out the key stages in this process.
Through interviews and stunning cinematography from across the continent, the 35-minute film unpacks an approach aligned to the principles of the growing global food sovereignty movement and provides a guide for anyone looking to revive traditional, diversity rich, seed and farming systems around the world.
Seeds of Sovereignty is the follow-up to the 2012 film Seeds of Freedom, narrated by British actor Jeremy Irons. Seeds of Freedom challenged the global corporate agenda to control and monopolise the food and farming sector, most particularly through genetically modified seed. It has achieved global success and is used by anti-GM campaigners across the globe.
Films produced by The Gaia Foundation, the African Biodiversity Network, MELCA Ethiopia and GRAIN

In Ethiopia farmers use a wide variety of seeds to obtain their crops from an incredible variety of different kinds of fields. Gathering information on what kind of seeds farmers want and why is essential to help farmers and the country preserve its rich genetic resources.(Ref:2552)

Meet the people saving precious grains and giving lessons in self-sufficiency. Not just in India, but world over, farmers, millet seed savers, collectives and organisations are working to protect traditional seed varieties. This video features the seed savers who are working to keep India’s agricultural diversity alive.

At Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa, it ALL started with two seeds. Now, they collect and exchanges 30,000 varieties! Hear how it all got started and be inspired to save seeds yourself.

Located in the arctic circle, The Global Seed Vault isn’t simply just a large storage facility for seeds from around the world. The vault is protecting the world’s agricultural genetic diversity and protecting our future food supply in case of catastrophe. Motherboard went to Svalbard, Norway to see the vault, located deep inside a mountain, in person.

There is an urgent need to promote active networking and reflection by diverse social actors working on issues of seed conservation, diversity and access. In response, Global Environments Network organized the 1st European Community Exchange (ECE) on Seed Diversity and Access in September 2017 in Barcelona.

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Organisations

Center for Food Safety – Global Seed Network
As our global climate changes, farmers and gardeners will need to access seeds that are bred to succeed in conditions that may be drastically different from previous years. When you list seeds on the Global Seed Network you help build an independent and diverse seed supply of unique plants and crops adapted to specific climates and conditions. This helps guarantee that each member will be able to find plants that will thrive in his or her production system, be it a small urban garden patch or a small, diversified farm.
https://www.globalseednetwork.org/

Save Our Seeds
‘Save Our Seeds’ (SOS) started as a European initiative in favor of the purity of seeds against genetically modified organisms (GMO) . The initiative was created in 2002 by the Foundation of Future Farming and since then advocates for a zero tolerance for contamination of seeds. Due to new developments in genetic engineering linked to the advent of CRISPR/Cas9, Save Our Seeds enlarged its focus and now also advocates for a GMO free nature.

Hundreds of organizations and some thousand citizens of the EU have become affiliated with Save Our Seeds’ many activities. Its projects strive to keep nature and agriculture free from genetic engineering and promote organic agriculture, biodiversity and food sovereignty.
https://www.saveourseeds.org/en/

‘Seed Sovereignty reclaims seeds and Biodiversity as commons and public good. The farmer’s rights to breed and exchange diverse Open Source Seeds which can be saved and which are not patented, genetically modified, owned or controlled by emerging seed giants’. – Lexicon of Food
https://www.seedsovereignty.info/

https://www.greenpeace.org/africa

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/SEED.html
Although most horticulturists and plant breeders do not recommend home gardeners grow their own seed, it’s a definite fact that seeds of many vegetables grown under garden conditions will generally prove satisfactory for later planting. Raising and saving seed is obviously not for everyone. The gardener whose only aim is to grow a few backyard vegetables is certainly not interested. That gardener to whom the height of adventure is trying a new variety will certainly back away. But the avid gardener who enjoys a challenge, who likes to try something different, who wonders about the “why” of how plants grow – – this person should probably try raising seed. There will be failures, problems and disappointments, but these will only make successes that much sweeter.

Reports

Seed Giants vs US Farmers records the current relationship between farmers and the “seed giants,” the world’s largest agrichemical companies, which today have created a seed oligarchy. It also explains the history of seeds in the U.S. and summarizes how patent and intellectual property decisions and policies impact broader socio-economic and environmental issues. Our newest report is timely because the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear legal argument in Bowman v. Monsanto this year (2013)

Conserving Traditional Seed Crops Diversity

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Key Court Case

In the Courts: Monsanto v. Bowman: Supreme Court upholds patent holders’ rights

June 2013

By Theresa M. Bevilacqua, Partner, and Kristin Stastny, Associate, Dorsey and Whitney LLP, Minneapolis, USA

On May 13, 2013, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in the case of Bowman v. Monsanto Co., Case No. 11-796. The Court’s unanimous ruling expressed strong support for the protection of the intellectual property (IP) involved in agricultural biotechnology.

At issue in the case were Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready soybeans, a soybean variety that is genetically modified to have a resistance to the herbicide glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup. Monsanto, as the inventor and patent holder of Roundup Ready soybeans, sells the seeds subject to a limited licensing agreement, whereby farmers are permitted to plant the purchased seed in only one growing season. Growers may then sell or consume the resulting crop, but may not replant it.