Why we need to buy Irish grown seed and grow and save our own seed.
Why we need to buy Irish grown seed and grow and save our own seed.
Seed Saving is an ancient skill that has been nearly lost, like growing our own food. Seed Saving was an essential part of everyone’s lives from the first farmers, until our recent ancestors, and essential to ensuring a food crop for growing the following year, which would ensure your survival in a time when there was no such thing as shops and Supermarkets and Tescoes!!
The Politics!
In more recent times, Seeds have become political because over 60% of the world’s seed companies have now been bought up by 4 major Agri-Chemical companies[1]. These are called the Big 4. This is a bigger indicator of what is going on with the state of seeds in the world. Over 90% of all different seed varieties of edible crops have been lost in the US since 1903[2]. This is due to the advent of things such as industrial agriculture methods (the so-called green Revolution), which brought about changes in land use and biodiversity loss, the invention of genetic hybrid (F1) varieties, GMO’s (Genetically modified organisms), and the above-mentioned Big 4. Ireland itself was hugely affected by the advent of Brexit, which mean that Irish growers couldn’t import seed from UK companies, which would also have included their source of seed potato. We need our own resilient food and seed saving system for commercial growers and for back garden gardeners alike.
Climate Change & Supporting Irish!
In a world where Climate Change is fast becoming the main concern for future safeguarding of our seeds and food security. We need to not only return to growing our own food and saving our own seed. But to also supporting local Irish organic growers and Irish provenance seed companies. This brings us to terms like native seed and Irish provenance seed. Native plants & seed are plants which have a long history, heritage and lineage in Ireland, and are therefore completely adapted to our Irish climate and ecosystems. Seed adapts annually to the climate (and changing climate) it experiences and saves that genetic material in its genetic store within the seed. Native provenance seeds are those grown in a specific place, so seeds of Irish provenance, is seed grown and saved here in Ireland. With Climate Change we need to be growing crops that are adapted and can survive in our climate. Often imported seed originates from countries where the climate is different and especially warmer, they are not used to our damp, cool climate. We need seeds and plants that can survive our weather, and the seasonal variations that we now find occurring, such as late frosts, cold springs, and periods of drought.
Trees
This concept of native provenance and native grown seed also applies to trees. We are where we are with the devastation that is Ash dieback and Fireblight, because nurseries started importing trees and hedges from mainland Europe at least 15 years or so ago, and despite plant passports and checks these diseases still came into Ireland. This would not have happened if we grew native trees from seed found and harvested from trees in Ireland. We need to support nurseries that grow their seed from native stock!
Why you shouldn’t buy cheap seeds from Aldi!
We must get better at reading labels on Seed packets! Lots of seed companies make you believe you are buying Irish seed, when it has been imported and then repackaged. Unless the seed packet expressly says grown and saved in Ireland, or Irish grown/provenance seed, then they most definitely have been imported!
Thing to be aware of when buying seeds, plants, and bulbs:
- Plants get sprayed and seeds get covered with neonicotinoids (chemicals) and insecticides if they are not certified organic.
- Try and buy your seeds from Certified Organic sources, which follow strict rules for their production, including zero use of chemicals. It’s worthwhile trying to get to know your organic symbols.
- When a seeds origin is unknown there are factors like seed quality and viability which affects the quality of the plant being grown and the possibility of saving the seed from it.
- Plants which are F1 (hybrids), have been genetically bred so that you cannot save the seed from the plants that you grow from F1 seed.
- Plant sources. There are Irish seed companies that sell open pollinated, organic seeds, but the seeds are not necessarily grown and saved in Ireland. You need to look for Native provenance seed companies, who grow and save the seed in Ireland, these companies are listed below.
The future is between us and nature!
Growing your own food and saving seed from those plants in your own back garden makes those seeds adapted to your local climate, saving your own seed makes you self-reliant and puts seed sovereignty back into the hands of the growers, as well as saving you money, not to mention it tastes delicious, and not to mention the benefits to you eating locally grown, chemical free/organic food, that has zero food miles! We have had an incredible relationship with nature since the dawn of time, and we just need to re-remember that, and start growing where we can whether it’s in a window box on your window or a corner of you back garden, take time to look at the nature growing around you, look at plants, see when they flower, notice the seed heads, starting now, growing your own food and saving your own seed is revolutionary!
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Seed Saving Terms:
Heritage/Heirloom: Denoting a traditional/old variety of plant or breed of animal which is not associated with large-scale commercial agriculture. An heirloom seed is seed from a plant that has been passed from one generation to another. Many heirlooms have been grown, saved, and passed down for more than 100 years, and some up to 300 years or more.
Hybrid (F1): A hybrid seed is produced by artificially cross pollinating two genetically different plants of the same species, such as two different tomatoes or two varieties of corn. The cross pollination is done by hand, and a seed that is saved will not grow true to either parent. Thus, the farmer or gardener has no choice but to purchase new seed each year. They normally come with the prefix F1 after their name.
Native Provenance seeds or plants originate from an indigenous native seed source within Ireland. This protects the genetic diversity of Ireland’s indigenous native species. Plants and seeds grown and saved in Ireland.
Open Pollinated means that pollination is carried out by an insect, wind, humans, or other natural mechanisms. Open pollinated plants are more genetically diverse which creates variation within plant populations. This allows the plants to slowly adapt to local growing conditions and climate. An open pollinated seed is simply a variety where the seed can be harvested from the plant, saved, replanted, and the same variety will re-grow true to type year after year.
Seed Sovereignty givesfarmers and communities the right to breed, save and exchange diverse open pollinated seeds. They are not patented, genetically modified, or owned or controlled by seed corporations.
[1] https://philhoward.net/2018/12/31/global-seed-industry-changes-since-2013/
[2] https://www.fastcompany.com/1669753/infographic-in-80-years-we-lost-93-of-variety-in-our-food-seeds