Heirloom Seed represent Genetic Diversity

Posted by Sally Odum Jul 31, 2006

Heirloom seeds have made a comeback! And not a moment too soon. Heirloom seed represent the genetic diversity of earth. These are the seeds used by your grandparents. Heirloom seed have not been genetically altered. Hybrid seed on the other hand, have genes that were altered from their original state.

Genetic diversity, as the name implies, means diversity of genes! Because of genetic modification and modern agricultural methods, we have limited ourselves to growing fewer and fewer varieties of plants, which means the genetic diversity of earth is in danger.

Someone said the other day, "But genetic engineering must make the vegetable better. Otherwise, why do they do it?" I said, "Well, it makes the plant more resistant to diseases or pests, or more drought tolerant. They splice in a gene that makes it have certain characteristics - like long shelf life." "Like I said, better," he answered.

But does it really make our vegetables better? It seems logical. But actually, GE seed only sometimes make farmers have a higher yield. And while the resulting vegetable may have a lot of one thing (the GE gene), it is no longer natural. Further, what about taste? What about nutritional value or vitamin and mineral content?

If you want a startling statistic, check out Farmer vs GM Seed Corporation, wherein I cite a scientific study concluding we have lost significant nutritional value in our vegetables since 1950.

Did you know that "when Columbus first arrived in the Americas, there were close to 300 varieties of corn being grown on the continent. Today, only 16 varieties of corn account for over 70% of the corn being grown in the United States. With the advent of genetically engineered corn, we are in danger of losing all genetic diversity, leaving the nations corn crop open to widespread destruction by a single fungus or disease." (That Garden Trivia was courtesy of Heirloom Seeds.)

I might add another piece of trivia: nearly all corn produced in the United States today is GE (genetically engineered). Most canola is genetically engineered as well.

If you would like to know more about heirloom or heritage seeds, including some mail order and online sources with great seed catalogs, read my latest article,

Heirloom Seed and Heritage Seed

Saving Heirloom Seeds reveals how to save heirloom seeds from your vegetables to use next year.

Discover how heirloom seeds differ from hybrid seeds in Heirloom Seeds vs Hybrid.