“Brazilian Seed Bank Seed banks are storage facilities that preserve and protect seeds. Seeds may be threatened by invasive species, monoculture crops, or natural disasters. Seed banks are maintained by governments, nonprofit organizations, and businesses. EMBRAPA is a Brazilian organization affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture. This collection of seeds is just part of EMBRAPA’s enormous inventory. PHOTOGRAPH BY PATRICK EOZENOU, MYSHOT”
What is seed saving? Seed saving has been done since the first farming began. “In gardening and agriculture, seed saving refers to the practice of saving various types of reproductive material and seeds from plants such as flowers, herbs, grains, vegetables, and tubers for future use.” Seed saving is considered to be the traditional way of maintaining farms and gardens. This practice has managed to keep many varieties of plants that would most likely not be around to this day too, the natural process of plant reproduction and evolution over time. Luckily with seed saving we are able to access a variety of plant species for agriculture production without the worry of losing the lineage of the plant. Seed saving is the backbone of the agriculture process for sustainability, being able to save and use seeds collected from the harvest to re-plant for the next round of growing instead of going out and buying a new set of seeds from a production retailer. Seed saving is one of the easiest ways to begin a sustainable farming practice.
Seed saving may be intimidating for many DIY farmers, but that’s a big misconception. The process to save seeds is a lot easier than many people may know. The steps are, first right before collecting the vegetable or fruit pick out the one that has the best genetics, it is important if you want the next ones that grow to be just as good as the produce picked. After collecting take the seeds in a glass cup or container let the seeds ferment for a day, or two do this if the seeds are in a plant that holds the seeds surrounded by liquid like tomatoes or cucumbers. After that set the seeds on a plate to dry. Easy enough now you have seed for the next round of growing. Some might say Even if it is easy why should you do it if it’s so easy to just buy a new pack of seeds.” Seed saving is a great starting point for developing a strong foundation for your produce, not only does it build a stronger gene pool, but it also saves you a ton of money in the process.”
In what other ways than just cost does seed saving benefit farmers or home gardeners. There is a shortage of varieties of seeds because big seed companies are only selling the seeds that are going to sell better and don’t care about seed diversity. If people don’t save seed one day the only plants you could buy would be the ones the companies sell and that diminished the variety of produce farmers and consumers can have.
With seed saving the person collecting the seeds has all the control on what plant they want to collect the seeds from. Opposed from buying store seeds “What you will be buying is a generic seed sold to thousands of customers, which has likely been modified and tailored to suit a certain climate, and environmental conditions.” Being able to select the biggest plant with the best genetics allows you to plant those seeds and have a better quality plant. Seed saving allows you to have the quality control to have the best produce and not know what is going to grow because the seeds used have already shown they have good genetics. Over time your seeds will be perfect for growing in whatever environment they have been in due to the past plants already adjusted to growing and adapted to the environment over generations.
Diversity is another bonus to seed saving, in the process of planting in many cases plants cross pollinate and new plants are bred that way. This is just a natural outcome of planting different produce in close proximity. Now these different hybrid mixes are a cool addition to whatever seeds you already have. Through this process the plants are always going to be sustainable and you will not likely run out of seeds in your lifetime.
Seed saving is so important that there is a doomsday storage set in place in a remote storing area it contains enough seeds to reintroduce agriculture back to the planet in the case that we need to. Most countries have their own seed bank saving endangered species of seeds. This practice can be so simple. For anyone growing and planting, new or old farmers can start doing their seed saving collection and can be the first step many take to have a sustainable way of cultivating produce.
Blog posted by Sebastian Rodriguez