CONSERVATION

miraculous. Amish deer tongue lettuce seed is now offered by 23 seed catalogs and its
fresh greens are found on at least 441 commercial farms. Radiator Charlie’s mortgage lifter
tomato was only offered by Southern Exposure Seeds in the early eighties but is now sold
by 17 different seed catalogs, and is grown on 301 commercial farms in the U.S.
When we try to discern the driving factors of this re-diversification, it is clear that for
the heirloom vegetables, legumes, tuber and grains we selected, the links to local identity,
culture and community were important for most (12) varieties, while taste options to
industrialized food (10) and promoting diversity in backyard production in urban or
suburban settings were key.
While the pace of the genetic engineering of transgenic crops, their patenting and
licensing and potential contamination of open-pollinated vegetable and grain crops
continue to worry food justice activists, potential solutions to some of these problems are
now emerging. For example, the Open Source Seed Initiative has engaged the Organic
Seed Alliance, small seed companies, universities and non-profits in seeking means to
keep vegetable, grain, legume, and tuber varieties in the public domain rather than being
further privatized. In the meantime, planting a diversity of crop species—most of them
still free of any risk of GMO contamination—is the best bet for keeping variety in our
produce in North America.
To get such diversity out to more people—including low-income families—more
than one hundred public access “seed libraries” have cropped up in the U.S. over the last
five years. In addition, food justice activist Daniel Bowman Simon has alerted tens of
thousands of low-income families that their SNAP benefits through USDA Food and
Nutrition programs can be used to purchase heirloom vegetable seeds, seedlings and
fruit tree cuttings to produce diverse food for multiple meals, rather than using the same
support for purchasing just a few meals from a grocery store. Many farmers markets
vendors are now regularly accepting SNAP program payments to put fresh foods and
propagation materials (seeds, cuttings and tubers) in the hands of the poor, but much
more needs to be done along these lines.
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