Heirloom Seeds And Their Advantages Right Now

There was a time not too long ago when consumers had access to a greater variety of produce than they do today. Many people grew their own fruits and vegetables in home gardens until about around 1950. Family farms were individually owned and operated and many different types of crops were raised. For the most part, the seeds used were heirloom seeds. The seed source was an open pollinated plant and it could be expected to develop into a plant that was identical to the parent. After World War II, hybrid seeds and the consolidation of farmland revolutionized the American agriculture industry. Now there are even bioengineered seeds being used to grow various crops.

To understand why there are advantages to heirloom seeds and why they are so important, it is necessary to understand exactly what a hybrid seed is. Hybrid seeds are produced by the artificial pollination of two varieties of plants. In other words, the pollen from one kind of tomato is put onto the stigma of another; the seed from this crossing will produce a tomato different from both the parents. Hybridization is used to combine useful traits, but most of those traits pertain to such qualities as long shelf life in stores, the ability to be harvested mechanically, and the ability to withstand long journeys without spoilage. Taste and resistance to disease are often sacrificed.

This should make for an ideal scenario, but a problem surfaces when hybrids do not breed true. What this means is that seeds from hybrid corn don't necessary produce the same kind of corn in the succeeding generations, as if one has to cross his fingers and wish himself luck. The child plant of hybrids are quite unreliable, at times unable to even germinate. For this reason, farmers don't bother to collect seeds for the next planting season, instead they are forced to purchase new seeds every time. Hybrid seeds also require special care in terms of fertilizers, water, and pesticides to give a good yield. In contrast, heirloom seeds are easier to grow and there is no need to buy the seeds because you can use those from the next generation and so on.

One quality many hybrid seeds do have is that they will increase the yield of the crop. While this is good in some ways, this also presents problems. When it is more profitable to grow just one crop, rather than a variety, diversity suffers. Hybrid seeds have also contributed to the loss of the American family farm, as small scale farmers are unable to compete with monoculture mega-farms.

The process involves splicing together genes from two different plants in a way that improves the seeds. Seeds may be modified to be resistant to certain insects or to thrive with less water or to grow better in the absence of fertilizer. Alterations can also affect which fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides a plant will react to. This new field has proven to be profitable for agribusiness but detrimental to the economic well being of family farmers.

There is also the touchy issue of safety. Studies over these bio-engineered seeds are few and inconclusive, so it's not certain whether these genetically modified crops are capable of mixing with natural plants. The concern is that the mutant crops will overrun the natural varieties which may disrupt ecosystems that depend on them. In fact, a key player in agribusiness proposed years ago the inclusion of a "sterility gene" into their seeds. This would have resulted in major problems if the gene somehow got mixed into the general plant population, as it would hinder the formation of any new good seeds for planting. Predictably, this move sparked outrage from different sectors.

With the increase in use of bioengineered and hybrid seeds, there is less and less diversity in the food supply these days. Corporations must make money and there is a high cost associated with producing hybrid plants. With the cost so high, the corporations are less likely to produce many different kinds of seeds. With less diversity in the crops there is a big problem if some catastrophe hits that particular crop. There will be nothing to take its place. This has happened in the past and could happen again in the future. Crop failure can be caused by climate changes, extreme weather conditions and various diseases. Famine can result if just one crop is grown and there is nothing to back it up. The Irish became familiar with this situation when the potato crop was devastated by blight during the 19th century.

The ability to actually grow recognizable plants from heirloom seeds is another advantage. While hybrid seeds may or may not grow, and will produce unpredictable results, the carrot that grows from a heirloom seed will be just the carrot you want.

However, the most important aspect of heirloom seeds is the taste of their harvest. After all, we are talking about food here. Agribusiness corporations put a premium on aesthetics and resiliency in creating their modified seeds, often putting taste in the background. Their fruits may look beautiful but they taste like nothing. Crops from heirloom seeds are full of flavor, their natural taste trumping anything produced in a laboratory.