Are Heirloom Seeds Really Necessary Or Are These Organic Seeds A Waste?

Just a few decades ago, food crops were much more diverse than what we have now. It was typical for families to have their own garden where they grew fruits and vegetables that formed a substantial part of their diet. Farmers owned the land they tilled and they produced many kinds of plants. Heirloom seeds were popular then, as they could be trusted to bear crops with the same characteristics generation after generation. Nowadays in America, farms are run by giant companies using large tracks of land, often concentrating on growing a few high-value crops. Agriculture has been changed by technology, replying on hybrid seeds and even bio-engineered seeds, which may be potentially harmful to humans.

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.

However, perhaps the most important trait of hybrid seeds is that they do not breed true. If you collect the seed from a hybrid tomato and plant it the next year, you will not get the same tomato. You will get the result of a genetic die roll. Generally the offspring of hybrids are undesirable in a number of ways. Sometimes, hybrid seed will not grow at all. And, because unlike heirloom seeds, hybrid seeds do not breed true, there is no reason to save the seeds from year to year. Every year new seeds must be purchased. Many farmers have found that for the hybrid seeds to produce bountiful crops, special fertilizers and pesticides must be used, and the plants often need more water than heirloom seeds would require.

An advantage of hybrid seeds is their ability to increase crop output. This has a good and bad side. On the one hand, it’s a boon for the business, such that the tendency is to grow this singular plant on a massive scale. On the other hand, variety goes down, and the special needs of these hybrid seeds have made virtually wiped out small farmers as massive companies are more equipped to cope with this new paradigm.

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.

It seems that right now, the trend towards hybrid and bio-engineered seeds will only continue, resulting in less food variety in our diets. After all, research and development to create super seeds is not cheap, so just a handful will be made. Now imagine if a disaster were to hit these crops. What will take their place? Because there are few varieties being grown in large scales, it will be problematic to find alternative sources in similar quantities. The result could be massive starvation due to famine, as has occurred before and is likely to recur in the future. A famous example happened in the 19th century when blight hit Ireland’s potato crops and they struggled to find food that would feed those dependent on them.

With heirloom seeds, many different kinds of plants can be grown at little cost, and the tomato seed you’ll be planting will produce exactly the same kind you have grown to know and love. Hybrid tomato seeds are not so dependable, with variable results that will make one feel as if playing the lottery.

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.

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