Home » Food & Drink » From Field To Table » The Seed

The Seed

© Bob Ewing

Winter holds a firm grip on the land. The hours of sunshine lengthen; but, snow and cold winds keep Father Sun's warmth away.

The following comments from an article in the Guardian Unlimited by John Vidal on Wednesday February 9, 2005, were my motivation for returning to this topic this week.

"An international moratorium on the use of one of the world's most controversial GM food technologies may be broken today if the Canadian government gets seed sterilization backed at a UN meeting.

Leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialization of "terminator" crop varieties. These are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds which farmers cannot replant."

That and my Richter's seed order arrived yesterday and my catalogue from Eternal Seed in Quebec came in yesterday's mail. Eternal Seed's Safe Seed Pledge:

"We pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants."

Fortunately, Canada's attempt to reintroduce the "Terminator" to the marketplace failed. If farmers and gardeners lose control over the seed, we all lose. Whoever supplies the seed controls the food supply. We are already too far removed from Nature and agriculture. We do not need to retreat to a point where we cannot make a comeback.

The ideal food system is a natural system. Food is grown and marketed locally. The surplus that is produced is shared or traded locally and then regionally. This localization builds a strong local and regional economy. Value-added food enterprises will emerge as the local economy evolves.

Opportunities spring up as local customers request local products. New products emerge and the cycle continues. New businesses require staff. This increases the municipality's employment rate. The jobs created are sustainable when they are created according to a solid business plan and market study.

On the community scale it is much simpler for the buyer to know the customer and for the buyer to know the seller. They may meet at the local market or farm gate. A relationship develops as the two parties interact. Interesting partnerships become possible. Buyer, seller and value-added producer can cooperate to bring desired products to the marketplace.

Over a few years a win-win scenario emerges. Growing and selling naturally and locally grown food is right livelihood. We will take a closer look at food and right livelihood in future articles.

However, none of this will happen if we lose control over the seed.