Category: Science & Technology

GMO figures large in big seed company business plans. They invest in altering the genes of seeds using recombinant DNA technology. They create new seeds which they can patent; new seeds that you will not be able to duplicate; new seeds that produce toxins or pharmaceuticals within the plants as they grow. The most common use is in the commercial corn market with Monsanto’s triple-stack corn. It combines resistance to the herbicide Round Up with pesticides to resist corn borers and root-worm all while growing your favorite sweetener, high fructose corn syrup. Yummy.

How do they do it? Genetics studies how living organisms inherit traits from their ancestors. Genetic information, such as traits, is carried on the long molecule called DNA. When cells duplicate, DNA is copied and passes down to new generations. DNA is made up of a sequence of simple units, like letters of the alphabet are the simple units of language. Traits would be different letters. Like language if you change the sequence of the letters you change the message. Genetic engineering changes the letters and sequence of the units that make up a cell’s DNA. It changes the message of the cell.

Traits are genetic information in a cell that is the form of instructions for constructing and operating of an organism. The order of the simple genetic units (including traits) spell out instructions in the genetic code. The organism reads the sequence of these units and decodes the instructions. Still with us? Tell your partner what you just learned...

Continuing, splicing a new piece of DNA into a cell can produce a new trait in the organism. That process is genetic engineering. GM (genetic modification) alters the structure and characteristics of the genes directly using the techniques of molecular cloning and transformation.

For example, there is a natural insecticide in the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis. That piece of genetic information (trait) is spliced into the DNA of a commercial corn seed. It is now in the genes of this crop- therefore the insect that eats that plant is killed. They say the plant is deemed harmless to people. The gene that carries the trait of natural insecticide is put into the plant before it is grown, so the genes will be in every part of the plant, including the seeds. Once this occurs, this seed is no longer able to replicate via open pollination- so you cannot grow your own seeds. Taking an example from the apple grower, the original seed is your root stock and the new seed is the tree you grow, once you splice your fancy apple branches onto that stock. You will not duplicate that apple tree from the seeds of those apples. You cannot duplicate that fancy corn characteristic from the seeds of that corn.

Is genetic engineering controversial? You bet. Depending on whom you ask, the technology will either end world hunger or damage health and the environment. It is said there is no risk to humans or insects in genetically modified foods...! Since we didn’t even have a clue that DNA was the medium for transfer of genetic information until 60 years ago, many say there has not been sufficient testing.

It just sounds so counter-intuitive, that it is small wonder the gardeners are growling any time the term GMO comes up at a S4 meeting; but co-founder and president, Dave Mitman, doesn’t let the discontent rule the roost. In his years of pondering the issue, he realized it isn’t hopeless. He realized he can do something. He has a vision to take on the menace and prevail. It’s a refrain common in the 60s but skewed for the new century - grow your own, in this case, seeds.

MastersConnection interviewed Dave for this article and he admitted that he used to get pretty steamed up about GMO, but has shifted his focus into the offense.
"Propagate as many varieties of species of plants as possible and grow them out to seed then save and trade the seeds with like minded people." This is core to the mission statement of S4. Encourage self-reliance by producing and sharing open-pollinated seeds; provide sustainable gardening educational resources to the home gardener, especially how to properly and successfully grow a plant to seed; protect and collect non-hybrid, locally-adapted, open pollinated seeds by encouraging everyone to maintain their own lock box of open-pollinated seeds adapted to our region.

In addition to genetic engineering shrinking the seed pool, large seed companies buy up the smaller companies, then cut their losses, which means discontinuing the least popular varieties of seeds. In the front lines of seed saving is an eye towards continuing as many species as possible. Each year every S4 member is invited to choose a vegetable and grow it out to seed, harvest the seeds and participate in a membership seed swap at the end of the season. This is the basis for each member creating their own private seed stash made with seeds from plants that do well in this environment.

S4 is an independent entity and not part of any national organization. Here is the history of S4 taken from their website:
“The idea of forming a seed saving organization came about at a fall harvest party in 1994. A small group of gardeners had gathered at the former Grow Organic Store in Yelm to celebrate the harvest season and talk about the state of seeds in our world. It was decided that the best approach was to start a seed saving group in our own area to meet the needs of local gardeners and to produce locally-adapted seed.
With the support of Nadja Galadram, owner of Grow Organic, Dave Mitman, Terra Kram, Jeanie Wilcox and many others, the South Sound Seed Stewards, aka S4, was established. In 1999, S4 became a Washington State non-profit corporation.”

The 2009 growing season is in full swing with the S4 members. Each of the marathon monthly meetings opens with an open floor for announcements from the membership, then there's a general gardening issue usually involving a guest speaker on topics like fruit trees or mushroom growing, followed by a half hour break. The break is the social pinnacle of the evening, where some of the premier gardeners in the area have a cuppa tea beside the rawest rookie. Everyone shares information and problem-solves the current gardening issues.

The second half is a classroom series to educate the rookies (student members) and the rank and file to the absolute beauty of the seed cycle. Over half of the classroom series for 2009 is completed at this date. The classes show the participants the basics of botany with extensive use of visual aids and textbooks in the form of seed catalogues. At the end of the year the student members who complete the Sound Sound Seed Saver Stewards Student Training Program are presented with a certificate of achievement, a binder to start their own garden journal and the gardener’s best friend, a pen to use in the journal to keep track of what they did and how well it worked.

Mitman says there are two kinds of gardeners: One sees the seed as the beginning and end of the plant. They buy seeds each year, plant them and when the plant goes to seed it’s ripped up and discarded from the patch. The other sees the seed as the bridge to the next generation. The seed is one step in the continuum of life. This is the gardener that S4 nurtures; cultivating that eye towards self-reliance and sustainable gardening.

S4 teaches that each seed is alive. It is not a pod of potentials but the entire embryonic plant, leaves, roots and reproductive system alive and awaiting the proper conditions to continue its evolution. In that staging, it needs to be properly cared for and that is the knowledge S4 gives its members. The message has gotten around. S4 has had a phenomenal growth this season moving from Gordon’s Grange to the Yelm Adult Community Center, to accommodate an almost doubling of the membership to over 100 gardeners. New members have enrolled each month and now it’s too late to catch up on classes for this year, although you can probably find a seat in the hall.

Today the S4 seed has been planted. It is open pollinated and locally adapted. Care for it properly and it will earn you enormous yields in knowledge, camaraderie and freedom.

General meetings of the S4 membership are held the second Monday of the month with the exception of July, when the organization meets for a picnic, and December, when the organization hosts a potluck dinner. Meetings are at 7 p.m. at the Yelm Adult Community Center - Senior Center 16530 SE 103 Avenue in Yelm.

To take full advantage of S4, make plans to join in January. Follow the website:
http://www.southsoundseedstewards.org/ and make sure you pre-register for the 2010 S4 season when that opens up.