
          Reaping What We Sow
          By Fowler, CaryCary Fowler
          Vol. 5, No. 6, 1983, pp. 14-18
          
          American agriculture is imported. All the major food crops grown in
North America originated elsewhere.
          It is believed that agriculture began independently in Southwest
and East Asia, Mesoamerica, and probably South America and Africa in
prehistoric times and gradually spread to other lands (see Chart
A). The different grains and vegetables as we know them did not exist,
for their present form is the result of thousands of years of
evolution and domestication.
          The conscious planting and harvesting of plants for food over wide
geographic areas helped create enormous natural, genetic diversity in
crops. Some of the seeds of plants that had successfully survived the
growing season were not eaten, but saved to be replanted the following
year, thereby perpetuating their own characteristics. Thus, countless
genetically distinct varieties of each crop developed in response to
different ecological conditions and human needs. Natural defenses
evolved to the different pests and diseases encountered in each
locality.
          Modern agriculture changed all that.
          
            Sacrificing Seeds
          
          By the early 1950s, major efforts were underway at research centers
supported by private and government sources to breed grains which
would produce high yields when pumped full of fertilizers and
water. Food crops, especially vegetables, were also bred to fit the
demands of brutal harvesting machinery and the rigors of long-distance
transportation. Taste and nutrition were forgotten, even scorned.
          Modern agriculture needs predictability; therefore, plant breeders
strive for uniformity. Plants are bred and inbred to develop the
desired characteristics. The result has been the creation of new
varieties that are extremely genetically limited.
          These new varieties have quickly spread around the globe, replacing
old, traditional varieties. "Suddenly in the 1970s," writes Garrison
Wilkes of the University of Massachusetts, "we are discovering Mexican
farmers planting hybrid corn seed from a midwestern seed firm, Tibetan
farmers planting barley from a Scandinavian plant breeding station,
and Turkish farmers planting wheat from the Mexican wheat program."
          Seed companies, governments, and international aid agencies have
gone into areas where traditional varieties predominate and promoted
the new plants, often calling them "miracle varieties." Convinced of
the "superior" qualities of the new variety, the Third World farmer or
peasant ceases to grow the traditional crop. Instead, leftover seeds
of the traditional variety may be used as food for the family or their
animals. In a moment's time, thousands of years of crop development
and seed selection become meaningless, as another variety becomes
extinct.
          As food crops become more uniform, so do cultures. Foods and crops
are an important part of a people's heritage; they perpetuate and
enrich its customs. As food crops become more uniform, so do
people. As traditional varieties become extinct, human cultures lose
something very special and irreplaceable.
          
            The Ultimate Gamble
          
          Where thousands of varieties of wheat once grew, only a few can now
be seen. When these traditional plant varieties are lost, their
genetic material is lost forever. Herein lies the danger. Each variety
of wheat, for example, is genetically unique. It contains genetic
"material" not found in other varieties. If, because of genetic
limitations which result from inbreeding, new varieties are no longer
resistant to certain insects or diseases (conceivably even insects or
diseases never before known to attack wheat), then real catastrophe
could strike. Without existing seeds which carry specific genes
conferring resistance, it may not be possible to breed resistance back
into wheat, corn, or any other crop.
          Serious problems result from lack of genetic diversity. We now know
that the Irish potato famine of the 1840s was caused by such lack of
diversity. The two or three varieties of potatoes introduced to
Ireland had come from the five thousand plus varieties growing in the
Peruvian Andes, original home of the potato. It took many years for
the spores of the potato fungus--the black rot--to reach Ireland from
South America. When it did, the results were catastrophic. The
genetically vulnerable potatoes were wiped out. Although wealthy
landlords still had traditional crops to export out of the country,
the potato-dependent poor had nothing.
          By the mid 1840s, two million Irish had died, two million more had
emigrated and the remaining four million faced a bleak future.
          In 1970, a corn blight struck in the U.S. Old, open" pollinated
varieties were not affected, but most farmers were growing the new
hybrid models--all of which were susceptible to the blight. Nearly
fifteen percent of the nation's crops was destroyed. In some Southern
states where the corn smut found weather conditions favorable, the
losses topped fifty percent.
          A study the next year by the National Academy of Sciences showed
that just six varieties of corn accounted for seventy one percent of
the acreage planted. This same lack of diversity is seen in all the
major crops in American agriculture. Could it happen again? Listen to
what is being said:

          
            The key lesson of 1970 (year of the corn blight) is that
genetic uniformity is the basis of vulnerability to epidemics. The
major question the Committee on Genetic Vulnerability of Major Crops
asked was, "How uniform genetically are other crops upon which the
nation depends, and how vulnerable, therefore, are they to epidemics?"
The answer is that most crops are impressively uniform genetically and
impressively vulnerable.
          
          -National Academy of Sciences
          
            The array of diseases that pose threats to wheat, rice,
maize, and sorghum is formidable. Except for the case of the Irish
potato when neither plant pathology nor genetics had been born,
research teams have been able to move fast enough to salvage our crops
from complete devastation. But, we are becoming more and more
vulnerable and there is no assurance that we can always react in
time.
          
          -Dr. Jack Harlan Professor of Plant Genetics Department of
Agronomy University of Illinois
          Thus far, as Dr. Harlan notes, scientists have been able to work
fast enough to avoid major catastrophes. When new varieties have been
discovered to be genetically vulnerable to pests or diseases,
scientists have scurried to collect old varieties or even "wild
relatives" in a search for genetic material that could be bred back in
to confer resistance. In recent years, wild potatoes have been used to
breed in protection against eight major pests. Wild tomatoes have
similarly provided resistance to a few pests. But all over the world,
the new varieties are rapidly replacing old varieties. The National
Academy of Sciences states that centers of wheat diversity are being
destroyed "at an alarming rate."
          New wheats and rices have washed over Asia and the Near East with
remarkable speed. New rice varieties came to occupy over seventy
million acres in Asia in less than a decade. In Turkey, many priceless
relatives of cereal grains are now found only in graveyards and castle
ruins. U.N. scientists now estimate that the, Near East, center of
genetic diversity for many of our grains, will simply disappear before
the turn of the century.
          Much, if not most, of this genetic wipe out is occurring due to the
replacement of old varieties with new ones. International trade in
seeds--the sale of seeds developed in North America and Europe to
peasant farmers using old varieties--is the biggest factor behind the
problem.
          Other factors are also involved. Tropical forests, which contain
the majority of the world's higher plant species (including valuable
food crops and plants used for making modern drugs), are being
decimated by agricultural expansion and reckless timbering. These
forests are now disappearing at a rate of up to twenty-seven million
acres a year.
          Recently, a rush of mergers and corporate takeovers has hit the
seed industry. Many old family-owned seed companies have been bought
out by large multinational corporations. The petrochemical and drug
industries--major producers of pesticides and fertilizers--have been
especially active 

(see Chart B). Their interest in the seed business
raises three provocative questions. First, will corporations who are
big producers of pesticides and fertilizers encourage their new seed
company subsidiaries to breed plant varieties that require more or
fewer pesticides and fertilizers? Second, will the acquisition of
small seed companies by corporations who are active around the world
tend to create international seed companies that will be better able
to spread their new varieties to regions where old varieties still
predominate? Will they therefore speed up the process of driving these
old varieties out of existence? Finally, will the takeover of seed
companies like Burpee by ITT bring slick, uninformative advertising to
the seed business?
          
            Patent That Plant!
          
          As seeds have become big business, pressure has been put on
governments around the world to insure high profits for the seed
industry. Until recently plants were considered "public property." One
could own a "Big X" tomato, but one certainly could not prevent
someone else from raising that variety of tomato and selling it or its
seeds. The seed industry has been successfully challenging that custom
and at their request many nations have established a system of patents
for new plant varieties. Now companies are able to patent a form of
life.
          In the U.S., plant patenting laws were first passed in
1970. Controversial amendments expanding the scope of U.S. laws were
passed by Congress and signed into law by President Carter in
December, 1980, despite strong opposition. The Rural Advancement
Fund/National Sharecroppers Fund spearheaded a nationwide campaign to
oppose the amendments, arguing that they would encourage seed company
takeovers, lead to higher seed prices and contribute to the
replacement and ultimate extinction of many traditional vegetable
varieties.
          But the seed industry, a powerful appendage of multinational
petrochemical and drug corporations, was not to be denied a victory
for its special interest legislation.
          In Europe, where patenting laws were first passed, thousands of
traditional varieties (including the Big Boy tomato) are being
literally outlawed. Common Market countries are phasing in a system
which makes it illegal for seed companies to sell the seeds of the old
varieties. The crime committed by the traditional varieties is that
they compete with the new, patented varieties being offered by the big
companies who are entering the seed business.
          Dr. Erna Bennett, formerly of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture
Organization, predicts that by the end of this decade, fully
three-quarters of all the vegetable varieties now grown in Europe will
be extinct!
          One thing is certain. Patent laws make seed companies attractive
investments for larger corporations. Shell Oil of Great Britain has
bought fifty-six seed companies since passage of a patent law there
would encourage takeovers in the seed industry. They need only look at
what has happened in the U.S. for a preview.
          Although big-time seed industry officials argue that patent laws
will encourage research and development of new varieties and thus aid
the public, it seems that precisely the opposite might
happen. Scientists at some research centers have already noted the
increasing reluctance of seed companies and other researchers to
exchange information and resources.
          Under existing plant patenting legislation, corporations get
protective patents, royalties and vastly reduced competition. Farmers
and gardeners are faced with illegal varieties, hybrids whose seeds
cannot be saved and royalty fees they never had to pay for
non-patented seeds. Plant patenting laws offer protection for
corporate profits while further narrowing the genetic basis on which
agriculture itself depends. Declaring certain varieties illegal and
patenting others is a bizarre luxury we cannot afford.
          
            The Seed Bank
          
          All major crops without exception originated in that part of our
globe we call the Third World. And it is in these areas where genetic
diversity is greatest that conservation efforts are most
important. For some years now primitive crop varieties and wild
relatives of modern crops have been collected and brought back to
industrialized countries for storage in refrigerated seed banks.
          But these efforts are perennially crippled by anemic
budgets. Expeditions to collect endangered wheat varieties in the
Mideast are no one's priority. Seed banks to store them in are poor
competition for jet fighters in budget debates.
          The U.N.-supported International Board for Plant Genetic Resources,
the agency charged with coordinating the collection of crop genetic
material and its storage in a system of some sixty seed banks, has an
annual budget of only three million dollars. Collection of some crops
like rubber and cocoa will be left to industry by necessity despite
the fact that no international codes exist to guarantee access to such
genetic material.
          
            
              CHART B: Update on Recent North American Seed Company
Takeovers
              
                Parent Company
                Seed
Company
              
              
                Abbott-Cobb (USA) 
                 Twilley
Otis
              
              
                Agrigenetics (USA) 
                Arkansas Valley
              
              
                
                Keystone 
              
              
                
                McCurdy 
              
              
                
                Taylor-Evans 
              
              
                Amfac (USA) 
                American
Garden
              
              
                
                Gurney Seed
              
              
                
                Henry
Field
              
              
                Atlantic Richfield (USA) 
                Dessert
Seed 
              
              
                Cargill (USA) 
                Dorman 
              
              
                
                Kroelor 
              
              
                
                PAG 
              
              
                
                ACCO 
              
              
                
                Paymaster Farms
              
              
                
                Tomco-Genetic Giant 
              
              
                Celanese (USA) 
                CelPrill
              
              
                
                Joseph Harris
              
              
                
                Moran 
              
              
                
                Niagara 
              
              
                
                Nugrains 
              
              
                Ciba-Geigy (Switz.) 
                Funk's Seed
              
              
                
                Louisiana
              
              
                
                Stewart 
              
              
                Clays-Luck/ Participex (France)
                Neumann 
              
              
                Dalgety (Gr. Bri.) 
                Driscoll
Strawberry
              
              
                DeKalb Pfizer Genetics (USA) 
                Clemens
Farm 
              
              
                
                Jordan Wholesale
              
              
                
                Sensors 
              
              
                
                Trojan 
              
              
                Diamond Shamrock (USA) 
                Golden Acres
Hybrid
              
              
                Grain Processors Corp.(USA)
                L. Teweles 
              
              
                
                Americana 
              
              
                
                Morton &Sons 
              
              
                ITT (USA) 
                Burpee 
              
              
                
                O. M. Scott 
              
              
                Int'l Multifoods (USA) 
                Baird
              
              
                
                Gildersleeve
              
              
                
                Lynk
Bros. 
              
              
                Kleinwanzlebener SAAT (W. Ger.)
                Cokers Pedigreed 
              
              
                
                KWS Seeds 
              
              
                Limagrain (France) 
                Ferry Morse
              
              
                
                Advanced 
              
              
                
                Hulting Hybrids 
              
              
                Monsanto (USA) 
                DeKalb Hybrid
Wheat
              
              
                Occidental Petroleum (USA) 
                Excel
Hybrid 
              
              
                
                Missouri
              
              
                
                Moss 
              
              
                
                Payne Bros. 
              
              
                
                Stull 
              
              
                Pioneer Hi-bred (USA) 
                Green
Meadows
              
              
                Reichold Chemicals (USA) 
                Florida
Feed &Seed 
              
              
                Sandoz (Switz.) 
                Northrup King
              
              
                
                Gallatin Valley
              
              
                
                Woodside Growers
              
              
                Southwide Inc. (USA) 
                Cotton Seed
Distributors
              
              
                Stauffer Chemicals (USA) 
                Blarney
Farms 
              
              
                
                Prairie Valley
              
              
                Tate &Lyle (Gr. Bri.) 
                Seed &Farm
Supply 
              
              
                Tejon/Times-Mirror (USA) 
                W-L
Resources
              
              
                Upjohn (USA) 
                Asgrow 
              
              
                
                Farmers Hybrid 
              
              
                
                United Hagie Hybrid 
              
              
                Yates (Aus.) 
                Yates Arthur
              
            
            
          
          The flagship of the U.S. seed bank fleet is the National Seed
Storage Laboratory (NSSL) located on the campus of Colorado State
University in Ft. Collins. Unfortunately, the NSSL does not meet the
IBPGR's standards for classification as a preferred "long-term"
storage facility. For fifteen years its dedicated staff and once
modern facilities languished without any budget increase. Budget
considerations hold its total staff below twenty-five. An unbelievable
forty thousand dollars a year is all the U.S. government devotes to
collecting vanishing resources on which the future of agriculture
rests.
          Dr. Jack Harlan of the University of Illinois claims that no seed
collection in the world is adequate--"all are incomplete and
shockingly deficient." According to Dr. Harlan, "These resources stand
between us and catastrophic starvation on a scale we cannot
imagine. In a very real sense, the future of the human race rides on
these materials. " Can we entrust the responsibility for creating an
international seed protection system to an under-funded staff of four?
Can we rely on the Fort Collins collection? Dr. Harlan gives us a
blunt answer. "If you are willing to entrust the fate of mankind to
these collections, you are living in a fool's paradise."
          
            Sowing Seeds of Action
          
          Bringing diversity back to our food crops, stabilizing world food
supplies, and insuring the future of agriculture are goals we should
all work towards. There is not an individual in the world who cannot
do something. Everyone's contribution is important.
          The debate over seed patenting proposals alerted many 

to this
crisis. Through the efforts of farm, garden, environmental, and church
groups, and many concerned individuals, thousands of American learned
of the genetic vulnerability of our major crops, the silent crisis
that stalks world agriculture. Out of this increased awareness can
come solutions.
          What can we do individually and collectively?
          (1) Support increased funding for collection and storage of our
plant genetic resources, before those resources disappear
forever. Storing seeds is only a partial solution, however. We need as
many varieties as possible out in the real world, growing in their own
diverse environments so they can continue to change and adapt. In
addition, all seeds eventually lose the life they hold within
themselves. Periodic" ally, all stored seeds must be taken out of
storage and grown into plants who seeds must be collected and stored
afresh. This would be a monumental task; even the inadequate Fort
Collins collection contains over thirteen hundred species.
          (2) Help promote "plant preserves." Here, wild ancestors of our
major food crops could be allowed to live in safety much the same way
that lions and elephants are protected in African game preserves. If
traditional varieties are to be preserved, their environment must
likewise be preserved. At present, "plant preserves" are more concept
than reality. Public awareness of the need for plant preserves could
help make them a reality.
          (3) Multinational corporate involvement in the seed industry should
be closely monitored. Manufacturers of pesticides and fertilizers
should not be allowed to own seed companies. Companies that export
seeds to Third World areas should be required to file statements
documenting the environmental impact of those seed exports. If old
varieties will be replaced, the company should be responsible for
seeing that they do not become extinct. If a company will not make
this guarantee, it should be prohibited from marketing m a given
area.
          (4) Oppose plant patenting legislation. Most governments do not
expect much public awareness over this issue; therefore, a few letters
expressing concern would have a big impact.
          (5) Governments at all levels should be encouraged to offer
marketing incentives to small farmers who grow the older varieties,
for example, price supports for traditional varieties. Other
government farm benefits could be offered to farmers willing to devote
a small amount of acreage to endangered varieties.
          (6) Farmers should consider banding together to buy bulk quantities
of traditional seeds and to market the produce in bulk or through
farmers' markets. When selling the old varieties, farmers should help
educate the public by labeling their produce with the name of the
variety. Consumers can then learn to tell the difference and begin to
put pressure on supermarkets to carry good produce.
          (7) Individuals, churches, community groups, colleges, and town
governments can begin to plant and safeguard the old varieties. In
some areas, groups have established small "preservation" orchards
devoted to traditional varieties of fruit trees. These efforts bring
people together to promote awareness of the problem, while
contributing to its solutions.
          
            Planting a Future
          
          In the end, the future of agriculture can be insured only by
healthy, vibrant small farms. The old varieties are threatened today,
not because they taste bad or are nutritionally deficient, but because
they do not suit the requirements of the factory farmers and the food
processing industry. The California farmer who grows tomatoes to be
shipped all over the country cannot grow the old, tasty
varieties. Their skins are not tough enough. Their insides are not
hard. If the old varieties are to flourish, they must be, as they have
always been, grown by small farmers and sold to a local market. This
system of agriculture has provided sustenance to people for well over
ten thousand years. It is an enduring agriculture that we tamper with
only at great risk.
          Seeds are a unique product of the efforts of people and nature. In
seeds, culture and agriculture are linked. This bond dissolved, both
are threatened. Our ancestors knew this and lived accordingly. Thomas
Jefferson once professed his belief that "the greatest service which
can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its
culture." For our generation, the challenge will be to preserve the
useful plants we already have.
        