by David Brooks
It is time
once again to put the seeds in the ground, and with that come some questions: Do
I put one seed in the hole or two? What happens if I put three? How close
together should I put the seeds? Can I squeeze one more plant in this row, or
will that crowd out the others and lead to the ruination of the entire garden?
To a seasoned gardener there is no quandary concerning the seeds, but to a
novice that plot of ground can be a puzzle of immense proportions.
The seeds planted determine a lot about your garden. So, let’s look at seeds. Where did you get them? Are they safe? Did you choose organic seeds to try and control what is inside you food?
There is a lot of research going into seeds and crop output in the country now. Over the past 20 years we have seen the introduction of a number of bioengineered crops throughout the world. The argument rages as to whether we are making it possible to feed the world, or setting ourselves up for a genetic mess and an insect or disease infestation that cannot be stopped.
Many of you are seasoned enough to remember in the mid-nineties when it became almost impossible to buy a taco in America. A bioengineered corn seed named Starlink made it into the food supply and was quickly deemed unsafe and not fit for human consumption. The corn had made it so deep into the food supply that anything made with it was pulled from the shelves and millers nationwide had to stop milling and empty any silo that could possibly have had Starlink in it. To this day labs check each load of corn delivered to a processor for traces of Starlink corn.
The quality of the seed determines the quality of the product you grow. Choose wisely.
The Future of Food is a good documentary to watch concerning this issue. The length is around 1 hour and 30 minutes, but it’s well worth the time spent.
After you watch the documentary the timeline following will make more sense. Please take time to watch it and then enjoy your backyard garden.
- 1901 - Ishiwata Shigetane discovers that the cause of a disease outbreak in silkworms is a new species of bacteria, later called Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.
- 1905 - Sir Roland Biffen shows that the ability of wheat to resist infection with a fungus is genetically inherited.
- 1907 - Erwin Smith and C. O. Townsend discover that the cause of crown galls is a bacterium called Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
- 1930 - In the 1930s, plant breeders notice that plants infected with a mild strain of a virus are protected from infection with a more destructive strain.
- 1938 - The first commercial insecticide that contains Bt hits the market.
- 1947 - Armin Braun shows that A. tumefaciens introduces a factor into plant cells that permanently transforms them into tumor cells.
- 1950 - In the 1950s, studies show that proteins produced by Bt bacteria kill insects.
- 1972 - Ernest Jaworski reports that glyphosate herbicides work by inhibiting a critical biochemical pathway in plants.
- 1974 - Jeff Schell and Marc Van Montagu discover that a circular strand of DNA (a plasmid) carried by A. tumefaciens transforms plant cells into tumor cells.
- 1977 - Eugene Nester, Milton Gordon, and Mary-Dell Chilton show that genes on the A. tumefaciens plasmid are transferred into infected plant cells.
- 1981 - Helen Whiteley and Ernest Schnepf, at the University of Washington, clone a Bt toxin gene.
- 1983 - Jeff Schell and Marc Van Montagu, Mary-Dell Chilton and colleagues, and scientists at Monsanto introduce genes into plants by using A. tumefaciens plasmid vectors.
- 1986 - Roger Beachy shows that plants bioengineered to produce a viral coat protein are protected from infection with the virus.
- 1990 - Field trials show that Bt cotton strains resist bollworm and budworm.
- 1996 - Genetically engineered virus-resistant squash seeds hit the market.
- 1996 - Bt cotton hits the market.
- 1996 - Herbicide-resistant strains of soybeans, cotton, canola, and corn reach the market.