Heirloom Seeds to Save Agriculture and the Planet

Today we are facing environmental catastrophe unknown to our grandparents or great grandparents. People have not been more concerned about environmental effects in our known human history. And if we were to ask, to what do we owe this great rise in consciousness, we will have to look at our own actions and how they have damaged the earth.

Had it not been so greatly threatening to the survival of humankind, it would have provided amusement that the human species, always bragging about its own superiority over other animals, has destroyed their own habitat doing what they called manifestations of their superior intellect. In reality, they failed to understand the limitations of their knowledge. They failed to anticipate the consequences of their action. They failed to act responsibly towards the environment and even their own species, many of whom are living, even with an abundance of total production, without the bare necessities.

Let us look at agriculture and how human superiority complex worked to establish damaging agricultural practices. The world needs food, we are told. We were fed with the now debunked Malthusian theory that there were too many people to feed. And even though grains are stored, hoarded or simply dumped in the ocean, we were fixated with improving productivity, which led us to modern agriculture, when the distribution issue remained unfixed, as it still does.

Modern agriculture brought us high yield seeds, genetically modified. But not just high yields, these seeds which we have to buy from multinational giants have other conditions attached to them. These seeds need a controlled environment. An unexpected rain or drought can ruin the whole harvest. So at all points, farmers stand to lose a lot. Also, because extreme control is needed, water supply to the fields too needs to be controlled well and so such crops need a strong irrigation system. So dams are erected, which cause severe damage to the biodiversity of a region. Then such seeds are often genetically modified to be sterile, which does not allow a farmer to use the seeds from the yield for further cultivation and the pollen from such seeds, when it pollinates with plants of the same species, causes sterility in the offspring seeds as well. So this is a threat against which a farmer could resort to a seed bank for preservation of varieties which may soon be lost thanks to the assault from the multinationals on the grains.

There is more than one reason for preserving heirloom seeds against genetically modified seeds. An Heirloom seed is the result of generations of cultivation of farmers. Farmers have chosen the best varieties, interbred the varieties to produce a superior variety and cultivated them, and the genetic makeup of these seeds have survived long in this environment without causing damage to it. So there is an absolute necessity to preserve heirloom seed which may soon be lost. Growing your own food is a good decision that will keep you healthy and boost your confidence. With a seed kit you too can now grow your own food, eat healthy and also do a favor to the environment.