Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds.
Worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind, these subtle
flecks of life are the source of all existence. Like tiny time capsules,
they contain the songs, sustenance, memories, and medicines of entire
cultures. They feed us, clothe us, and provide the raw materials for our
everyday lives. In a very real
sense, they are life itself.
Yet
in our modern world, these precious gifts of nature are in grave
danger. In less than a century of industrial agriculture, our once
abundant seed diversity—painstakingly created by ancient farmers and
gardeners over countless millennia—has been drastically winnowed down to
a handful of mass-produced varieties. Under the spell of industrial
“progress” and a lust for profit, our quaint family farmsteads have
given way to mechanized agribusinesses sowing genetically identical
crops on a monstrous scale. Recent news headlines suggest that Irish
history may already be repeating in our globalized food system. Articles
in the New York Times and other mainstream sources report the impending
collapse of the world’s supplies of bananas, oranges, coffee and
coconuts—all due to a shortsighted over-reliance on a single, fragile
variety. Without seed diversity, crop diseases rise and empires fall.
More
than a cautionary tale of “man against nature,” the remarkable story of
seeds is an epic “good-versus-evil” saga playing out in our modern
lives. For eons, cultures around the world have believed seeds to be our
birthright: a covenant with the earth shared by all and passed down
across generations. But today, our seeds are increasingly private
property held in corporate hands. A cadre of ten agrichemical companies
(including Syngenta, Bayer, and Monsanto) now controls more than
two-thirds of the global seed market, reaping unprecedented profits.
Genetically modified crops (GMOs) engineered in their sterile
laboratories dominate farmers’ fields and dinner tables in the United
States and countries around the world. Farmers from Minnesota to Madhya
Pradesh, India toil in economic thrall to the “Gene Giants,” paying
hefty licensing fees to plant their patented crops. If they attempt to
save their own seed at the end of a season, following a tradition
practiced by humans for over 12,000 years, they face ruthless
prosecution. (Suffering under this indentured servitude, over 250,000
farmers in India have committed suicide in the last 20 years.)
People
everywhere are waking up to the vital importance of seeds for our
future. In recent months, March Against Monsanto protests have rallied
millions in more than 400 cities and 50 countries to the cause of seed
freedom. Ballot initiatives to label genetically modified foods have
been proposed in U.S. cities from California to Connecticut—a direct
threat to the profits of the Gene Giants and their Big Food cronies.
Seed libraries, community gardens, and a new generation of passionate
young farmers are cropping up to shift the balance toward a more
sustainable and sovereign seed paradigm. A David and Goliath battle is
underway, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.