The Importance of Seed Saving
The Genetic Desert
Biodiversity is an integral part of any healthy ecosystem. Having a diverse gene pool is life’s natural means for coping with potent diseases, environmental stress, and quick changes in the ecosystem. Genetic diversity is one key to biological success for many species[MB1] .
Much of our current relationship with food fails to recognize the importance of crop diversity: our current food system promotes massive contracted monocultures that a few key distributors package and send throughout the nation and world. In fact our “modern” food system is dependent on only about 150 plant species, 12 of which provide three-quarters of the planet’s food supply! Furthermore the International Development and Research Council reports, “More than half of the world’s food energy comes from a limited number of varieties of three mega-crops: rice, wheat, and maize.” [1] If one of these crops were to succumb to disease or blight, massive famines could become a reality. While the monocultures of the 20th and 21st centuries have produced the highest overall yields of crops humanity has ever known, this system is a desert when one considers the merits of genetic diversity and the long-term sustainability of a food supply.
The genetic diversity of the world’s food system has been steadily decreasing for some time now. Scientists estimate about 15 plant species go extinct every day, including plants that people once ate.[2] Replacing biodiversity and thousands of years of work by farmers is the industrial monoculture. Modern seed companies are offering fewer options for farmers because of the demands by big companies for one type of potato or corn. Furthermore, genetic engineering giants are patenting genetically modified (GM) seeds, particularly of such crop staples as corn, soybeans, and cotton, making it illegal for farmers to save GM seeds from one year’s harvest for the next year’s crop.
Perhaps the biggest threat to crop biodiversity in the immediate future lies in the fact that heirloom and organic products are being cross-pollinated by pollen from GM crops, destroying the genetic integrity of the crop. When one considers that companies are working to develop a GM self-terminating seed, the implications are harrowing. These “terminator” seed would be designed to produce crops with seed that poisons itself and becomes sterile; thus farmers would not be able to save seed for the next crop. If this genetically engineered trait were to contaminate non-GM crops, the results could be disastrous, destroying biology, culture, and the independence of farmers who currently do not buy from seed companies.[3]
To combat these dangers, seed saving networks across the country are working to preserve regional crops and biodiversity by establishing “seed libraries.[4] A seed library is a place where plant genetics, in the form of seeds, are stored for research and public use. A farmer or interested gardener borrows a certain amount of seeds, grows them out as a crop, harvests some of the seed, and returns the same amount of seeds he or she borrowed the next year. A seed library is a means by which a region can store the genes of its traditional heirloom varieties, teach the public about farming and biology, and store alternative species of plants in case a widely used variety succumbs to a new disease or pest. [1]
UCSC is supporting biodiversity by creating its own seed library! Every year the UCSC seed library will hold seed exchanges between farmers and gardeners. The new library will also be available for campus gardens and for students with off-campus backyard gardens! The only stipulation for borrowing free seeds is to return about 20x the amount of seeds you borrow, which is easier then it sounds. To arrange a showing of the current seed collection, contact Andrew Whitman at awhitman@demeterseedsproject.org or Elan Goldbart at eagoldbar@ucsc.edu
"Facts and Figures on Food and Biodiversity." International Development and Research Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan 2011. <http://publicwebsite.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?PublicationID=565>.
[2] "Biodiversity: Seeds=Life." Sacred Earth Botany . N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Jan 2011. <http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/conservation/seeds.php>.
[3] Shiva , Vandana. Stolen Harvest. 1st. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. 79. Print.
[4] http://www.seedsavers.org/
[MB1]There are many “clonal” species that don’t exhibit genetic diversity but are successful; I’ve tried to modify this sentence to reflect that.
Biodiversity is an integral part of any healthy ecosystem. Having a diverse gene pool is life’s natural means for coping with potent diseases, environmental stress, and quick changes in the ecosystem. Genetic diversity is one key to biological success for many species[MB1] .
Much of our current relationship with food fails to recognize the importance of crop diversity: our current food system promotes massive contracted monocultures that a few key distributors package and send throughout the nation and world. In fact our “modern” food system is dependent on only about 150 plant species, 12 of which provide three-quarters of the planet’s food supply! Furthermore the International Development and Research Council reports, “More than half of the world’s food energy comes from a limited number of varieties of three mega-crops: rice, wheat, and maize.” [1] If one of these crops were to succumb to disease or blight, massive famines could become a reality. While the monocultures of the 20th and 21st centuries have produced the highest overall yields of crops humanity has ever known, this system is a desert when one considers the merits of genetic diversity and the long-term sustainability of a food supply.
The genetic diversity of the world’s food system has been steadily decreasing for some time now. Scientists estimate about 15 plant species go extinct every day, including plants that people once ate.[2] Replacing biodiversity and thousands of years of work by farmers is the industrial monoculture. Modern seed companies are offering fewer options for farmers because of the demands by big companies for one type of potato or corn. Furthermore, genetic engineering giants are patenting genetically modified (GM) seeds, particularly of such crop staples as corn, soybeans, and cotton, making it illegal for farmers to save GM seeds from one year’s harvest for the next year’s crop.
Perhaps the biggest threat to crop biodiversity in the immediate future lies in the fact that heirloom and organic products are being cross-pollinated by pollen from GM crops, destroying the genetic integrity of the crop. When one considers that companies are working to develop a GM self-terminating seed, the implications are harrowing. These “terminator” seed would be designed to produce crops with seed that poisons itself and becomes sterile; thus farmers would not be able to save seed for the next crop. If this genetically engineered trait were to contaminate non-GM crops, the results could be disastrous, destroying biology, culture, and the independence of farmers who currently do not buy from seed companies.[3]
To combat these dangers, seed saving networks across the country are working to preserve regional crops and biodiversity by establishing “seed libraries.[4] A seed library is a place where plant genetics, in the form of seeds, are stored for research and public use. A farmer or interested gardener borrows a certain amount of seeds, grows them out as a crop, harvests some of the seed, and returns the same amount of seeds he or she borrowed the next year. A seed library is a means by which a region can store the genes of its traditional heirloom varieties, teach the public about farming and biology, and store alternative species of plants in case a widely used variety succumbs to a new disease or pest. [1]
UCSC is supporting biodiversity by creating its own seed library! Every year the UCSC seed library will hold seed exchanges between farmers and gardeners. The new library will also be available for campus gardens and for students with off-campus backyard gardens! The only stipulation for borrowing free seeds is to return about 20x the amount of seeds you borrow, which is easier then it sounds. To arrange a showing of the current seed collection, contact Andrew Whitman at awhitman@demeterseedsproject.org or Elan Goldbart at eagoldbar@ucsc.edu
"Facts and Figures on Food and Biodiversity." International Development and Research Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan 2011. <http://publicwebsite.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?PublicationID=565>.
[2] "Biodiversity: Seeds=Life." Sacred Earth Botany . N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Jan 2011. <http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/conservation/seeds.php>.
[3] Shiva , Vandana. Stolen Harvest. 1st. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. 79. Print.
[4] http://www.seedsavers.org/
[MB1]There are many “clonal” species that don’t exhibit genetic diversity but are successful; I’ve tried to modify this sentence to reflect that.
