No. 1
Why save seed?
Why save seed guideline also available here as a PDF document (304Kb)
Tomato tasting
Different people save seed for different reasons. Some do it to preserve a link with the past, growing a variety their parents grew or one peculiar to the place they live. Some do it to assure themselves of a supply of seed of a variety no longer available, whereas others are making a deliberate stand against current trends in the seed industry. Some, like the Heritage Seed Library's Seed Guardians, do it in order to create surplus seed that can be given to others. Many people save seed because they have always done so.
Genetic erosion
Perhaps the most pressing reason to save seeds of a wide range of vegetable varieties is to keep it alive and ready for use. Seed banks and plant breeders' collections preserve diversity, but they are not currently open to the general public who may want to grow those varieties. Whilst seed catalogues offer new, improved varieties every year, the reality is that the choice continues to narrow, as does the genetic pool from which these are bred.
The main reasons for this loss of diversity are a mixture of legal and commercial pressures. However, the result of genetic erosion is a loss of choice for the grower and an increase in genetic uniformity in the fields.
Dangers
There are several problems caused by genetic erosion:
Food security
With uniformity, both genetically and in the form of mono-cropping, comes the increased risk of a pest or disease wiping out a whole planting. Uniformity can result in limitation in buffering an attack. Many of the varieties currently relied on for our food supply lacks he range of genetic information to allow them to adapt to new or changing conditions.
The Environment
Modern varieties have been bred to stand, and require large doses of, chemical pesticides and fertilisers. These can persist in the environment and many have the capability to cause harm to humans and other organisms.
Choice
For many producers the main reasons for growing particular varieties is ease of harvest and ability to travel rather than flavour. Flavour of the month is dictated by what is on offer and what is available and this is constantly changing. What if your choice isn't on producers' or the seed companies' top ten?
Global Changes
Uniformity in varieties doesn't take into effect climatic variations. Local varieties were more common because they grew well in the areas where they were bred.
With changes in climate, pests and diseases and agricultural practices (the needs for organic farming are very different), choice in varieties will be necessary. When a variety disappears so do those characteristics which we may not even know about, and once they are gone there is little chance they will ever be recovered.
Solutions
The joy of swapping and sharing seed
Currently seeds are stored long-term in gene banks. This effectively freezes the genetic information held within them in time, providing a reference for the future. However, they are only grown from time to time, often many years apart, in order to refresh stocks, so important characteristics may not be noticed. They are not generally available to the public.
Amateurs can save their own seed as has been done for thousands of years, well before the advent of large seed companies and modern agriculture. By doing this gardeners have control over their own food and can make their own choice about what to eat. Saving your own seed year on year means your varieties will be able to adapt to your specific conditions. You will also be able to note any interesting characteristics, such as an apparent resistance to a particular pest or disease.
There are many ways home-saved seed can be distributed, either through seed conservation schemes, like the Heritage Seed Library, or seed swap forums, many of which can now be found listed on the internet. Saving seed and growing your own food makes sense for a sustainable and secure future.
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