Seed: A Farmer's Perspective
Frank Morton, Wild Garden Seed
So, where do seeds come from? Seeds come from species interaction—a bumblebee or any pollinator interacts with the plant in exchange for nectar. The seeds we use in human food systems arise through the interactions between humans and plants. Over thousands of years plants interacted with humans and humans interacted with plants to keep themselves alive.
I grow a lot of lettuce seed—black lettuce and white lettuce. Lettuce is my totem plant. Lettuce seeds are really interesting to me. Wild lettuce seed capsules are entirely open so that the seeds blow away in the wind. As humans began to interact with lettuce, they selected varieties which had seed capsules which held the seeds in place so they did not blow away. Over time, seed capsules were selected for this new trait. The more attention plants receive from humans, the more they change.
Humans also selected for seed coats that germinate quickly—and fast germinating seeds are a hallmark of domestication. Lamb’s quarter with its thick seed coat is successful in the wild, whereas quinom with its thin seed coat would not survive in the wild since it would all sprout too quickly.
Seeds come from seed growers, from farmers originally. Spinach started in northern Iran in the mountains. Some of its seeds went east, and some went west and ended up in the hands of American breeders. Asian spinach seed is spiked, while American spinach seed is rounded.
Through growing salad, I learned how to grow seed. Why buy something you can produce yourself?
We developed a salad business which was also designed to grow seed. If we keep planting every two weeks throughout the summer, we can allow some plants to go to seed and harvest and sell the seeds, too.
Fast germination and quick early growth are important traits to select for in seeds. Plant three seeds at a time, and select which seed to keep. After observing the way plants in the garden grow, use a marker to select the heartiest plants to let go to seed. I am able to do hone selection process to a very fine degree, because I visit the plants so frequently over their life span.
I first met John Navazio in 1982, while looking for ideas for how to make a small farm profitable. John taught me the differences between self- and cross-pollinated plants in terms of breeding. This knowledge helped me immensely, after bumping around for 15 years doing intuitive breeding. There are way too many secrets in the seed industry. John wanted, like me, to raise up the whole system. I wanted to be a part of the natural garden system I was trying to create. I provided fertility, water, and—as much as possible—I let the natural system do the rest. I learned as we went along.
Keep your eyes open when you do plant breeding and selection, because plants do things that we don’t anticipate or understand. Merlot lettuce tastes like cardboard, but it is highly disease resistant. Merlot has no green beneath its red pigment. It has no chlorophyll and you can’t make sugar without chlorophyll, which is why Merlot tastes like toilet paper. Red pigments are anti-oxidants for people, and they help protect plants from UV radiation. Lettuces with deep pigmentation are nutritious. So I crossed Merlot with other varieties, including green oak leaf lettuce, to get a new variety with the benefits of both—red pigments and flavor.
Classical plant breeding reveals all the traits in the plant that you didn’t know were there. Growers who visit their edible plants every day are most in tune with their plants and make the best seed growers.
If I eat a new variety and it’s good, it goes in the packet to be replanted. The final selection is done after eating. You simply can’t tell without eating them which varieties taste the best.
I thought GMO plants were someone else’s problem till they moved in next door. I could not convince anyone in my seed industry group that this was a hazard. We were about to have a major change in Willamette Valley, where seed growing is a major industry. I called the Center for Food Safety regarding Monsanto’s plans to plant roundup ready sugar beets in the valley. We took them to court and won after 2 years. In his opinion, the judge said that there was a clear threat of contamination between roundup ready beets and other beets. Monsanto was ordered to do an environmental impact statement prior to planting the GMO beets.
The take home message is that seed is a living thing that is co-evolving with us. If it’s not in our hands being planted and selected, then it will go away. We need seed heads—people who are working with seeds and know them. Organic farms are complex systems based on species interactions. No one is pulling all the strings—farmers pull some, insects pull others, and disease pulls others. Seed breeding is a lot of fun, and it’s creative. You can be an artist working with seeds—what could be better than that? And you can make money, too.