Just a brief reminder of what we have to imagine under hybrid seed varieties, also called mixed breeds: The different species are created with a great deal of effort and are genetically engineered Methods produced so that in the end the desired properties such as size, resistance, color and shape are achieved through inbreeding and strengthened over several generations will. Finally, two inbred lines have to be crossed into each other in order to end up with the first filial generation - called F1. What do you get out of it?
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Hybrid versus non-seed species
The plants that grow in this way are particularly vigorous, look uniform, but stand out with their high productivity and manageable losses. However, the “hybrid effect” has a decisive disadvantage: it fizzles out in the next Generation, so that seeds obtained from their own harvest can practically no longer be used because of the seed strength is missing. It is different with reusable seeds, which can be propagated using conventional methods such as insect pollination while retaining their variety-specific properties. The young plants grown with it are thus one hundred percent similar to their parent plants, not only in appearance and properties, but also in taste.
Where is the trend in seed production going?
Since the beginning of the 20th Century clearly in the direction of industrialization. Large companies have almost completely bought out the smaller plant breeders, making 75 worldwide today Percent of the seeds of ten multinational corporations, five of them from the chemical industry (!) Produced and marketed will. The range of non-seed varieties is declining more and more. Many types of vegetables are now only available as hybrids and that even applies to the quite expensive organic vegetables. Hobby gardener varieties are no longer developed at all and are therefore completely identical to those for industrial agriculture - just filled in smaller bags.
Official prevention of the use of non-seed varieties
As if all of this wasn't enough, the corporations have secured exclusive rights of use that Prohibit reproduction, even if farmers sell or trade seeds from their own harvest want. The trade in seeds is controlled by the state, so that only industry-friendly and officially approved varieties can be placed on the market. With genetic engineering and terminator technologies, the industry has achieved that plants can no longer produce germinable seeds (unfortunately the UN had only temporarily banned this).
Seeds are common property!
Says Flail e. V as one of the largest organic seed companies in Germany and motivates them to only use GM-free seeds. However, even the very wide range of the in-house online shop cannot hide the fact that the so-called "old" varieties that are in our home gardens have been successfully grown for decades, are no longer permitted, far from any meaningfulness, and are therefore not officially traded to be allowed to. Of course, this does not affect the fact that garden owners still have the sovereignty to decide on the cultivation of the “forbidden plants” themselves. Therefore, in conclusion, we make a few recommendations for the GM-free purchase of clean organic seeds on this topic:
- Noah's Ark
- Bingenheim seeds
- Vern
- Green tiger
- Irina's shop and
- Manfred Hans
