For farmers and gardeners alike, the seed is where the growing experience begins and ends. The seed is an ideal symbol for Life's cycle; a plant is born from seed and in the process of death, or transformation, the plant produces new seeds which guarantee its rebirth. Over the past few years, Monsanto, a chemical company, has positioned itself as an agricultural company through control over seed, the first link in the food chain.
It is this attempt to control the production of seed that emphasizes the importance of heritage seeds. Perhaps ,the closest definition of heritage varieties is "varieties at risk", those kinds of cultivated plants that, regardless of age or historical record, are in danger of disappearing from cultivation. A heritage plant may be a variety of green bush bean, that you originally received from your grandparents' garden where it had grown for over thirty years, and which you have never been able to find in any seed catalogue.
Take a look in a seed catalogue and see how many kinds of beans, peas, lettuce or turnips are listed. In a 1998 catalogue, from a company that has been in business for 53 years, there were three types of broccoli listed. Compare this to Fearing Burr's Field and Garden Vegetables of America of 1870, where there were 86 types of broccoli listed and you can see a disturbing trend.
Heritage seeds help insure plant diversity and it is this diversity that works to promote food security. If a farmer plants 10 different varieties of broccoli and a disease attacks, the odds are in the farmer's favour, that one or more varieties will survive. If there is only one variety planted, then the crop may be wiped out, and possibly the farmer along with it. If this happens to only one farmer the threat to food security is marginal, but what if it happens to the entire broccoli crop? Now, those who hate broccoli, may have no problem with this but extend it to corn, wheat or rye, the cornerstones of our food supply and then what happens? How long would it be before food prices are out of reach except for the few?
I began this article with a quote, which is attributed to Ghandi, I feel that it is most appropriate when talking about heritage seeds. When you plant a heritage variety you know what you are getting, the plant will produce true to its parentage. You are also using seeds which will produce more seeds which you can save to grow more plants. The whole of the cycle lies within your hands. You control the quality of what you eat.
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