11.24.2013

Beautiful fields of grains. But are they healthy or not?

I do not know if it was a coincidence or that it is for another reason, but in the last weeks I’ve seen many documentaries on seeds. Some of the stories I heard worried me. I do not intend to waste your day, but it is something we cannot ignore. So please continue reading and learn.

I guess you know that all our vegetables, fruits and herbs sometime started as a seed. The seeds where put in the soil, the sun, water and an acceptable temperature woke them up and made them germinate. Depending on the type of plant, it takes a few days up-to months or years before it grows into something edible.

For centuries, farmers have been using this method to grow their crops. When the plants have flowered, the farmer collects the seeds, dries them and then uses them the next season. In this process the farmers try to collect only the seeds from the strong plants and avoid taking those from the borders of the grow field, as they can be contaminated by seeds from nearby but different species.

This all continued until a big company discovered how to manipulate seeds genetically. This enabled them to grow plants that are resistant to certain pesticides. Pesticides they produced themselves. From that moment on the farmers who used the seeds could grow denser rows, since fighting the weeds had become very easy. A win-win situation for all.

But slowly this company went further and further with the development of agricultural products. It expanded all over the world and of course it had to fight different competitors, driving them even more deeper into the development of their commodities.

After years it is proven out that these creations from the lab - which once seemed very interesting – have taken over the control of the whole food chain. Farmers who once choose to take a chance and bought these products from the company, now do not know how to terminate their contracts. Their neighbouring farmers are driven into despair as the patented seeds end up on their fields. It costs them a lot (money and time) to avoid being sued for violating the exclusive rights. A single farmer fighting to such a big company is like David fighting Goliath.

And there is more. We consumers don’t even know what we eat anymore. Is it an original race which is able to reproduce itself in the next year or is our food grown out of weak and ‘dead’ seeds which cannot impart themselves (so-called hybrid seeds) another time?

The last film I saw made me a bit more confident in our future. It was about a very dedicated American professor who is working hard to save the seeds in our world. He can talk about this very passionate and inspiring. While he has to make great efforts to convince national governments of the importance of conserving original seeds. We might need them one day, when those ‘designed’ seeds cannot satisfy our needs anymore.

I must confess that all the documentaries made me worry. I don’t know what to do anymore. Because it is not easy to find out whether your rice is grown out of original seeds or whether they are hybrid. Can you see or taste the difference? Is it written somewhere on the package? I don’t know. The least I could do is ask my food provider of fruit and veggies. So I’ve sent them a mail to ask what kind of seeds the farm uses. Hopefully they give an honest answer. As soon as they reply, you’ll find it here. Until that time I have to do it with that what my provision offers.