just a thought

"in hybridized seeds, the specially bred traits, such as disease resistance and fast growth , aren't stable--that is they tend to degrade if a farmer recycles the seeds over several generations." "the end of food" paul roberts p.154 ________________________________________________________ roberts is writing specifically about kenya and the impact of the "green revolution" with its dependence on industrial inputs but the degradation of hybridized seed still rings true for industrial agriculture here...although here the farmer is using the seeds under license to grow one crop...seed saving and reuse is actually actionable in civil court if not overtly illegal...i have no idea if this extends to "volunteer" plants but you can see the stunted and deformed corn plants in the top two photos that are in the soybean field next to strack's...one generation on and the genetics are coming apart ( the third photo is the industrial corn behind walmart as a comparison...even if you save seed the license runs out...planed plant obsolescence )...the fourth photo is of the two larger heirloom hopi blue maize plants on campus and their heirloom status tempts me to brush up on buffalo bird woman's seed saving techniques and see if the genetic stock holds up through a second generation...she saved only the largest kernels from the center rows of the "plumpest" ears for seed for the next year's crop ( actually she saved two years' worth in case of a crop failure to insure another season )...i don't have access to industrial seed and don't really want to grow it anyway so there can be no real comparison of a second generation beyond the behavior of volunteers that i can find in the multitude of corn fields that still exist here despite suburban sprawl...perhaps not the most scientifically rigorous of experiments...but i'm not a scientist...just a curious gardener...the bottom photo is the perennial garden project about four thirty this afternoon just as some rain was moving in