You've probably noticed that grocery store shelves typically carry just a couple varieties of your favorite fruits and vegetables: a red and green apple, red-leaf lettuce and romaine. The FAO estimates that in the last century we've lost 75 percent of our genetic diversity in agricultural crops. For example, farmers grew more than 7,000 varieties of apples in the 1800s, yet by the end of the 1900s, only 300 had survived extinction. Threats to our plant gene banks is terrifying in the face of unpredictable changes in our climate and other environmental factors.

That's why news from USDA's Agricultural Research Service that usable DNA can be taken from seeds no longer viable is pretty exciting.

Since seeds lose viability in storage, samples are usually thrown out if they can't germinate. This new research provides hope that even non-viable seeds are valuable sources of genetic information. Scientists were even successful in extracting usable DNA from seeds more than 100 years old, seeds that had been stored in an attic since the Civil War.

Seed saving is an important activity that doesn't have to be left to the seed banks. Some communities and organizations are working hard to preserve this fundamental resource.

Source: ARS

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Again, Putting Things in Persp
written by Gwenny, August 13, 2008

I completely support these seed banks and grow heirloom crops as much as I can. I would like to see us return to diets more in line with our ancient ancestors. And I would like to point out that those 7,000 varieties of apple were NOT . . . well, natural, for want of a better word. They were all varieties achieved through selective breeding over a mere few thousand years and, therefore, man made. The ancestor of all apples is still alive and well and in no danger of becoming extinct in the near future.

Just trying to put things in perspective. It hurts the environmental movement, I believe, to bewail the loss of an artificial crop growing far from it's natural habitat.

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