Hit the Dirt; Seed Saving

Although it may be hard to believe before 1850 homegrown seed was the rule in this country and still is for much of the world. There were no seed packets at the local market or stack of seed catalogs back then seed savings a basic scale which can really expand one's gardening horizons. It is also a way we can really do something concrete about an important environmental issue for loss of genetic diversity is a critter as critical in domestic crops as it is with wild species of which we've been hearing so much lately. Now is a good time for those of you who have never tried to give it a shot. Today I will be reading from a chapter in a small but excellent booklet on the subject. The booklet has been titled grown to seed. It's written by Peter Donaldson and published by Ecology Action of mid Peninsula. Their address is 5 7 9 8 Ridgewood road Willits California. 9 5 4 9 0 and you can write to them if you want a copy of this booklet. Why grow your own seed. The reasons and rewards for growing your own seed are the same as those motivating us to begin and continue gardening. Through the garden we participate in the creativity of nature. Gardening is a creative art but

growing seeds. We see next year's garden within this years. This adds a new dimension of creativity a new level of integration to our gardening experience responsible self-sufficiency is another common motive for gardening. From this perspective growing seed is an essential survival skill. Seeds are the beginning of the end. The first and last step in our closing our circle of Independence. Vulnerability. If you're not growing your own seed who is growing them. Recent years have seen the wholesale takeover the seed trade by large transnational conglomerates most in the petrochemical or pharmaceutical businesses. In England recently for example one conglomerate bought out 84 seed companies in a single week our gardens and the overall health of our food system are not being well served by corporate economics. Genetic erosion of our most important crops worldwide reduced availability of garden vegetable varieties increased centralization of the seed supply process and an almost complete loss of seed saving skills among growers of every scale have placed us in a position of great vulnerability. Genetic corrosion. India once grew an estimated

30000 varieties of rice. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute predicts that this will be reduced to no more than 50 varieties in 15 more years. More than 70 percent of the diversity in parts of the Middle East. The original center of wheat diversity has been replaced by a handful of green revolution varieties. Of the approximately 7000 named apple varieties formally growing in the United States approximately 4000 have been lost in the U.S. two varieties of peas account for 96 percent of acreage in production. Six varieties of corn count for 71 percent of us acreage for varieties of potatoes constitute 72 percent of potato acreage and just two varieties of beans account for 60 percent of the dry bean acreage. We will never know how many varieties have been lost in the tropics as traditional crops are displaced by cash crops for export. Loss of vegetable varieties in North America five percent of all open pollinated action varieties are lost each year. 80 percent of the vegetable varieties that were available in the US 19 0 2 have disappeared. Open pollinated varieties are low priority among most large modern companies. These rare

IDs are either being dropped or deteriorate in quality due to inadequate quality control. Recent legislation has made five hundred forty seven traditional vegetable or IDs illegal in many European countries. Some predict that 75 percent of Europe's existing vegetable varieties will be extinct by the end of the decade. Centralization 60 percent of U.S. seed companies have been acquired by other companies since 1970 and these acquisitions represent much more than 60 percent of the volume of seed sales. Three enterprises control 95 percent of the Duchy trade. Ten large corporations control one third of all commercial cereal varieties. It is estimated that 92 percent of the world's stored germ plasm is monopolized by the industrial northern countries. It's 70 percent of the naturally occurring plant diversity is located in the tropical third world. The world feed stocks are being grown in a handful of isolated geographic areas almost the entire world's supply of cabbage spinach and beats he grown in a single Valley in the northwestern U.S.. The few garden books discuss the subject seed saving is easy and only requires skills possessed by every gardener.

Agriculture is over 15000 years old. Its seed merchants appeared less than three hundred years ago until the turn of the century. Companies were few and almost all gardeners and farmers produce their own seed for the French market gardeners selection was considered a maintenance operation. Some garden farm books comment that it is risky to rely on your own garden proceed considering the current trends in agriculture. One might conclude that it is risky not to grow and save at least some of your own seeds. Please stay tuned next week to hit the dirt for the conclusion of this reading. This is Keith Goldfarb hope to hear from you. See you on the radio next week.