My organic garden, 2009

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by BailOut

3) I produce roughly half my own seeds. I have never had a plant fail to produce seed, or had those seeds fail to germinate. Evil companies like Monsanto typically "turn off" the reproduction genes in seeds in order to lock you into buying from them for each crop.

That's not the entire story, Brian.

Sterile hybrids have been popular seeds for a long time. The commercial seed companies claim that they can get better yields and better disease resistance from these hybrids. What they don't tell you is that you cannot breed these plants "true". They're like mules than like horses or donkeys.

Monsanto's "terminator gene" was meant to prevent the diffusion of their special GMO plasm into nature and keep poor farmers on the hook with Monsanto.

Monsanto has been suing farmers who have plants which contain "Monsanto genes" that came to them through genetic diffusion from the environment. I wish to heck I'd known about the first of these lawsuits because I'd have been glad to slip the Farmer's lawyer a $100 or $50 buck note to keep the defense strong. This is the kind of horseshit lawsuit that makes Capitalism look like a scam and creates stupid "Rights" that are crap.

I don't buy hybrids myself. I have a fourth generation of Kale coming up in my garden. Every one of them, all six of them, are volunteers from last year. I plan to add to these six about five more from a separate line to keep up the genetic diversity. Might also add Scotch Kale in the indoors for variety.

Odd as it sounds, Brian, we do agree on the necessity of sexual reproduction of foodstuffs to build up vitality, defend against parasites and diseases and create robust foods. Maybe some GMO will work, some day, but for today it's in its infancy and given how Monsanto acts like Brigands they're making it a tough sell.

I give away my seeds to friends and fellow gardeners.

This year I'm trying to grow Quinoa and keep a seed collection from it. My Amaranth from last year was good but I dislike how Amaranth tastes so I don't plan on growing it in abundance this year. The two don't cross so I don't see a problem if I grow some more this year to keep the strain vigorous with new exposure to the environment.

Gene