In Praise of Heirlooms
When people hear the word heirlooms they usually think of tomatoes. But heirlooms really refers to the old fashioned vegetable varieties - of all species - that is the genetic heritage of human agriculture. There's heirloom herbs, squash, greens, corn and cucumber, onions, leeks and more cabbages than you can count. There's been a lot to contribute to the recent interest in heirlooms, mostly tomatoes of course, some of it good and some of it not so good.
Coriander
Between big agriculture, seed patents and poorly written laws, seed diversity is being lost. In the past few decades estimates are that the world has lost 75% of its agricultural genetic diversity. A lot of the problem is consolidation, big agriculture simply trying to be more efficient. In addition there are unfortunate laws including consumer protection laws in Europe that inadvertently wiped out swaths of heirloom species, and more ominiously, seed patent laws that are being capitalized on by big businesses who are making bewildering attempts to control seed distribution world wide. Taken together, the effect is that the heirlooms that our seed-saving ancestors took millenia to produce are being quickly wiped out, all in the past few decades.
Wapsipinicon Peach
Fortunately, there is hope. In 1894 Russian scientists founded a seed bank to preserve the genetic diversity of their nation's seeds. Today the Nikolai Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry in St. Petersburg keeps the greatest collection of genetic source material in the world. The Institute achieved legendary status during World War II when scientists at the institute starved to death at their stations rather than eat the seeds that surrounded them. Today many other seed banks are being formed, including the Millennium Seed Bank Project in Kew, England, and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, whose many contributors includes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
In the 1990's a group of seed pioneers traveled throughout the world seeking out endangered crop species, giving rise to the foundation of the Seed Savers International, which led to Seed Savers Exchange, one of the most popular and successful heirloom seed producers in the United States. Every year SSE's Heritage Farm rotates new species into production from their vault and makes the seed crop available to everybody.
Today, many organizations and companies are working together to protect our seed heritage. One of my favorites is Heirloom Seeds, whose catalog lists hundreds of varieties, many of them organic. Chef's Collaborative is taking part in Slow Food USA's RAFT project, growing 16 varieties of heirlooms vegetables including heirloom cucumbers, squash, turnips, lettuce, peppers, pumpkins, beans, melons, corn, parsnips, tomatoes, onions, and cabbages.
Waltham Butternut
Heirloom tomatoes are hugely popular today and are available almost everywhere, spreading like wildfire in just the past couple of years. In addition, obscure heirloom vegetables and also heritage livestock breeds, which were once endangered, are making rapid comebacks due to renewed interest. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy registers hundreds of unusual species of cows, pigs, sheep, poultry, horses, all being brought back sometimes from the brink of extinction.
Today people are coming up with innovative new ways to make use of heirlooms and heritage breeds. Newspapers are full of recipes for heirloom tomatoes, heritage cattle are touted for their lean meat and health benefits. And this is encouraging farmers to explore new ways to produce good food efficiently, including innovative approaches to organics and sustainability.
Heirlooms and heritage breeds help preserve our cultural heritage, and can help our economy and environment, even our health. So the next time you're looking at a seed catalog or shopping at the market, think about going heirloom. You might just save the world!
Posted by LocaVori on September 11, 2009 at 10:28 p.m..
