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| 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.
