![hopingtohomestead:
How buying heirloom seeds defends our habitat from invasion
There are three types of seeds gardeners or farmers might use:
First Generation (F1) is a hybridized, patented, often sterile line of crop which can’t propogate further seasons on its own.
Genetically Modified (GM) seeds have been fiddled with in a lab to allow combinations of genes not possible through breeding — some lines of corn use information from cold-water fish to make themselves more frost-hardy, for example.
Heirloom seeds are where it’s at. These varieties are allowed to pollinate naturally, with traits only selected for by generations of breeding. They might have been developed quickly in the last 50 years, or proudly tended and passed from generation to generation since the Civil War.
Most of the seeds on store shelves are F1. A multinational corporation owns the rights to their genes, and it is in the best interest of the companies making these breeds to control their bloodlines, lest consumers find themselves with a more affordable/fertile product to spend their money on. Not that home gardeners are that much of Big Ag’s market share, but it still matters.
Seed banks work to preserve biodiversity. Maintaining biodiversity means ensuring our ecosystems continue to host millions of species with billions of genetic variations, and this is especially important in the time of vast monocultures. Larger gene pools prevent organisms from species-wide destruction, and result in specimens less vulnerable to disease, climate change, and predators.
[more at link]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzwr8mSc5g1qmuo8lo1_400.jpg)
How buying heirloom seeds defends our habitat from invasion
There are three types of seeds gardeners or farmers might use:
- First Generation (F1) is a hybridized, patented, often sterile line of crop which can’t propogate further seasons on its own.
- Genetically Modified (GM) seeds have been fiddled with in a lab to allow combinations of genes not possible through breeding — some lines of corn use information from cold-water fish to make themselves more frost-hardy, for example.
- Heirloom seeds are where it’s at. These varieties are allowed to pollinate naturally, with traits only selected for by generations of breeding. They might have been developed quickly in the last 50 years, or proudly tended and passed from generation to generation since the Civil War.
Most of the seeds on store shelves are F1. A multinational corporation owns the rights to their genes, and it is in the best interest of the companies making these breeds to control their bloodlines, lest consumers find themselves with a more affordable/fertile product to spend their money on. Not that home gardeners are that much of Big Ag’s market share, but it still matters.
Seed banks work to preserve biodiversity. Maintaining biodiversity means ensuring our ecosystems continue to host millions of species with billions of genetic variations, and this is especially important in the time of vast monocultures. Larger gene pools prevent organisms from species-wide destruction, and result in specimens less vulnerable to disease, climate change, and predators.
