Sowing Seeds of Diversity

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

On the surface, hybridization may lead to more offerings in the marketplace, but not to greater genetic diversity. Think of different varieties of the same species rather than a diverse set of species. We're still reliant on a single source for the original gene. Moreover, it doesn't matter how many new varieties arise each year—we're losing countless others at the mercy of control and profit.

Planting the Future

You may think it impossible for one person to transform the fate of the world's food supply, but ironically it's the home gardener who has the power to keep our genetic diversity alive. "Backyard gardeners are emerging as the most vitally concerned stewards of this irreplaceable genetic wealth, and we must quickly accept our responsibility," says Whealy. "Try to imagine what it would cost, in terms of time and energy and money, to develop this many outstanding varieties. But they already exist. All we have to do is save them."

As a nation of immigrants, we have access to seeds from all parts of the world, seeds that made their way into this country hiding in suitcase linings or sewn into dress hems. If these seeds are not handed down, like when an elderly seed saver passes away, the varieties become extinct. Start with what you have, swap with neighbors and relatives—who knows, you may be the only person growing your grandfather's prized pepper.

Then, instead of supporting the multinationals that have grown to expect your yearly business, look to the new breed of companies dedicated to bringing disappearing varieties back into circulation. Take Kent and Diane Whealy who, in 1975, inherited from an elderly relative seeds that were brought from Bavaria four generations before. With these few heirlooms they started Seed Savers Exchange, a network of everyday people across the nation saving and sharing non-hybrid seed varieties. Since 1975, their members have distributed an estimated 750,000 samples of garden seeds not in commercial catalogs and often on the verge of extinction. Their annual Seed Savers Yearbook lists the addresses and holdings of more than 1,000 members whose varieties number almost 12,000twice as many varieties as are offered through the mail-order seed industry of the United States and Canada.

Of their many publications, the Garden Seed Inventory is indispensable. A catalog of catalogs, the Inventory describes 6,483 non-hybrids and the mail-order companies that carry them; it helps gardeners locate hard-to-find regional seeds and charts each variety's rate of decline, flagging those about to be dropped.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print