Over the past decade or so there has been much debate about whether open-pollinated and heirloom varieties should be the preferred choice for gardeners over hybrids. And there's been even louder discussion (arguments) over GMOs or genetically engineered plants. Why all the fuss?
We're getting a bit sciencey today. I mean, more than usual. We're discussing the difference between all these types of plants, when and how they are appropriate to use in our home gardens, and what, if any, implications genetic engineering has on our choice of food at the grocery store and the farm stand.
Let’s dig in!
References and Resources:
Vote for me in the Women in Podcasting Awards!
Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group
Save on a Magic Mind Subscription with code justgrowsomething20
Hybrid or Open Pollinated - Garden.org
https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/files/ef130.pdf
Choosing Bt Sweet Corn Varieties | University of Maryland Extension (umd.edu)
Pinkglow® pineapple (pinkglowpineapple.com)
In Search of the Real Jersey Tomato (Part I) (Archived)
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There has been a lot of focus over the past decade on heirloom
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and open pollinated varieties in the garden and there has also
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been a little bit of demonization of hybrid varieties
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and large agriculture in general.
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Why? I think it's because there has
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been a push towards people being able to be more self reliant and
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also a push away from the corporations having control over
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the food that has grown for us. What defines an heirloom and
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what is the difference between an open pollinated or a hybrid
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variety? And just to top it off, what is
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a GMO and are they bad or even dangerous for us as gardeners?
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Which one should we be choosing to grow, the heirloom or the
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open pollinated or the hybrid? That's what we're talking about
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today on Just Grow Something. We will define all of these
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terms, explore the benefits and the drawbacks of each, and talk
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a little bit about the push toward only planting open
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pollinated varieties and why this may not be a good thing.
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Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen, I started
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gardening in a small corner of my suburban backyard and now 18
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years later, I've got a degree in horticulture and operate a 40
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acre market farm. I believe there is power in food
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and that everyone should know how to grow at least a little
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bit of their own. On this podcast, I share
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evidence based techniques to help you plant, grow, harvest
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and store all your family's favorites.
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Consider me your friend in the garden.
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So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
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just grow something. So a little housekeeping before
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we dig into the difference between heirlooms and hybrids.
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First off, if you missed it, I was recently featured in an
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article in Women Who Podcast Magazine and I actually made the
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cover of that magazine. I am super excited for that.
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I will link to the publication in the show notes if you want to
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completely different organizations.
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Women who podcast magazine has nothing to do with the women in
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podcasting awards. They just happen to kind of
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Voting started last Thursday and I'm just excited to see how I
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There are thirteen of us in the lifestyle category, but there
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Facebook. You will find a very supportive
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I know especially for beginners, asking questions in online
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fun of needlessly for perfectly honest questions, which is
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really lousy. That does not happen in our
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group. It has never happened in our
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answer all of the questions personally.
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But your fellow gardeners are also in there giving good
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gardening community that is non judgmental and will always cheer
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or food related meme, then check out the Just Grow Something
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Gardening Friends Facebook group.
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You'll have to answer a few questions to get in, just so I
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know you're not a spam bot and that's it.
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So I will leave a link to that in the show notes.
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OK, So let's talk heirloom versus open pollinated versus
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hybrid versus GMO or GE. What is the difference between
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all of these and why should we care?
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So we'll start with heirloom and open pollinated.
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So an open pollinated variety is one that self pollinates or
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cross pollinates with another plant by wind or insect
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activity. They remain fairly consistent,
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producing seed that will grow into plants that are more or
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less like their parent plants. So beets, all of our brassicas
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like broccoli and cauliflower, carrots, corn and squashes are
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all open pollinated. They are all cross pollinating
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and so they require isolation in the in the garden to keep the
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varieties true to type. Right?
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Beans and lettuce and peas and tomatoes are self pollinating so
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they generally don't need to be isolated.
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Although if you want to guarantee the tomato you get the
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next year is the same one you had this year, I would put the
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tomato varieties from each other just to be on the safe side.
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That's what I do now. The seeds from open pollinated
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fruits or vegetables can be saved and they can be planted
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the next year and remain like the parents, assuming that they
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haven't crossed with another variety.
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That would create a hybrid and we'll talk about that more in a
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second. So heirlooms are just open
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pollinated varieties that have been around unchanged for a very
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long time. The generally accepted
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qualification is a variety that is at least 50 years old.
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Some organizations actually put it higher at 75 years, but in
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any case, it's old. It's been around for a while.
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Some of these seeds have just been saved for generations by
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one or two families in a very specific geographical area, and
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then they are rediscovered either by a seed company or a
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seed saving organization, and then they are bred and now they
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become very popular types. So think in terms of tomatoes.
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Those are the most obvious when we talk about heirlooms, right?
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So Cherokee, Purple, German Johnson, Black, Creme, Green
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Zebra, these are all heirloom varieties.
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The thing about heirlooms is there is a lot of variability.
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So individual plants of an heirloom variety can actually
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vary quite a bit in size and shape because these varieties
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basically represent a genetic pool of sorts that all share
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some commonality rather than all being one specific type.
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So that's why heirlooms can look really wonky one time when you
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plant them, but then if you get the seeds the next year from a
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different source, they may perform completely differently.
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And then if you save the seeds yourself, they may act different
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from the other two. It's fun, but it may not be very
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predictable, and that's where hybrids come in.
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So a hybrid is what happens when one plant variety crosses with
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another. Now, in the plant breeding
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world, a hybrid is the result of pollination of one specific
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variety with pollen from another specific variety or multiple
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varieties, right? So a seed company or a plant
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breeder will choose parent varieties that produce 1st
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generation offspring that have the characteristics that they
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want in that offspring. So that could be size or shape
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or color or disease resistance or flavor or any number of
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traits. It's done in a very controlled
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manner so that all the offspring are exactly the same.
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We call these F ones or F1 hybrids, right?
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So hybrids are good just for one example.
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If you live in an area that is particularly susceptible to a
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certain plant disease, you can plant hybrid varieties that have
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been bred to be resistant to that plant disease.
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So this will actually help keep that disease out of your garden.
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Hybrids are actually really good choice for organic gardening
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since you're not going to be using a bunch of, you know,
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pesticides and you know, that sort of thing.
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They can provide sort of an extra layer of protection
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against diseases, which makes your plant stronger, which means
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it can fend off the pests a little bit better, right?
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So and actually some hybrids also turn out to be more
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resistant to specific insect pests too, which is one more
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reason why you might want to grow a hybrid in your garden if
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you've had a really difficult time getting a specific type of
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plant to maturity before the bugs take them out.
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Now here is where I guess the concern comes into play.
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If you are somebody who is a proponent of self-reliance,
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because if you save the seeds from a hybrid plant, the
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resulting plant likely will not produce fruit the same way it
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did the year before. Hybrids will often revert to the
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traits from one parent plant or another.
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And actually hybrids can have as many as four parents.
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So that that is the problem or that is the argument when you
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were talking about open pollinated versus hybrids.
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And I sort of land in the middle of this argument.
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I see the need for growing open pollinated varieties because we
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don't want to be reliant on seed companies or seed breeders to do
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all this work ourselves and for them to have complete control
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over what it is available for us to be able to grow.
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So having open pollinated varieties that we can isolate
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and that we can save the seeds from ensures that we have a
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stable food supply. On the other hand, if you have a
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garden and you cannot grow cucumbers because the downy
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mildew or the powdery mildew takes out plants every single
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year, then you are no longer able to produce your own food
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anyway. So why shouldn't you grow a
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hybrid variety that has been bred to be resistant to powdery
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mildew or downy mildew in order to be able to actually get a
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harvest? So if it comes between not being
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able to grow cucumbers at all or growing a hybrid, then by all
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means you should be growing a hybrid, right?
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I don't think you can take a hard line on one side or the
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other. I think, you know, a good mix of
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the of both is the best idea. Now, that's just my opinion and
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that's that's I'm entitled to it as well as you are entitled to
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your own. So I just want you to have all
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of the information when you hear the arguments regarding hybrid
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versus open pollinated. Now, here's where it gets a
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little confusing too. Let's take the Rutgers tomato,
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which is actually one of my favorites.
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It is also known as the the Jersey tomato, right?
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The Rutgers tomato was actually the most popular tomato variety
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in the world before we started sort of having mechanized
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farming. It was developed in 1934 by
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Rutgers University along with the Campbell's Soup Company.
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So it was a hugely flavorful tomato.
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It was also more resistant to rot than its predecessors, and
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it became a staple ingredient of not only Campbell's soup, but
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also Hunts and Heinz. At its peak, the Rutgers tomato
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made-up more than 60% of all commercial tomato sales, and it
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was also being eaten fresh in home kitchens, in addition to
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being processed into soups and to ketchup.
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It was really a versatile tomato.
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Unfortunately, in around the 1960s, automation became a thing
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in farming and the Rutgers tomatoes skin is a little bit
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too thin for automated picking. And if you were still harvesting
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by hand, the skin was too thin for it to be very shippable.
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So farmers and commercial producers began looking for more
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Hardy tomatoes that would store longer and they would travel
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further with less spoilage. And thus sort of began the
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change in breeding practices in leaning more towards durability
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for shipping instead of flavor, which is why I maintain that the
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grocery store tomatoes still taste like cardboard to this
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day. But that's why the the Rutgers
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sort of fell out of favor. It was still popular with home
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gardeners. It just wasn't being grown on a
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large scale. But there was some renewed
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interest in this by plant breeders in the early 2000s.
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They found out that the Campbell Soup Company still has some of
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the genetic material from the parent plants of the original
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Rutgers tomato. And so they spent about 15 years
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working to revive this cultivar. And when they finally released
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it, it was called the Rutgers 250 in of Rutgers University
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250th anniversary, which I think was kind of cool.
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But let's go back a little bit. Notice what I said.
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The Rutgers tomato, the original Rutgers tomato was developed by
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Rutgers University and Campbell's Soup.
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It was a cross between two or more varieties that was bred
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over and over again for those specific traits.
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But the Rutgers that I grew was open pollinated.
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You can grow a Rutgers tomato, isolate it, save the seeds and
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grow the same tomato again next year.
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The newer Rutgers 50 was also a hybrid, but it's not open
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pollinated. So what gives?
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I thought we said that that hybrids weren't open pollinated,
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but the Rutgers was a hybrid and it was open pollinated.
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What? Yes.
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So some hybrid varieties, right? Plants that started out as
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hybrids are able to be stabilized over the years and
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become open pollinated varieties.
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And so you would develop this F1 hybrid and you can take the
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seeds and replant them and grow new plants and then choose the
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fruits that come from those next year's plants that are just like
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the parents and then plant those and do it again.
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And you do it again over and over and over again.
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You are selectively breeding that plant to become a stable
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version and become open pollinated and that's what
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happened with the Rutgers. And many of these varieties,
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like the Rutgers, have been stabilized for so long that they
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are now considered heirlooms. So it was it started as a
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hybrid. It was stabilized to become open
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pollinated. And it's been stabilized for so
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long that now it's considered an heirloom.
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And you can buy Rutgers tomato seeds as own pollinated
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heirlooms in a myriad of different catalogs.
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As for the Rutgers 250, well, Rutgers University says that
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they are currently unavailable for sale because they do not
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have a licensee to sell the seeds.
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So to me, that just means that, you know, while it was great as
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a commemorative project for the 250th anniversary of the
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university university, the newer version of the Rutgers just
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didn't stand up to the old fashioned growth and the flavor
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of the original now stabilized version, right?
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Another example is a hybrid apple pushing out a mutant
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version of itself that became its own variety through
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propagation and stabilization. And that is how the Blondie
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apple was created. So it's also known as the Yellow
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Gala. And it was discovered by Tom and
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Bob McLaughlin in Portsmouth, OH, in 1998.
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And they were Gala apple growers.
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And they saw this one tree had this bright yellow skinned
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apple, which of course makes it stand out in an orchard full of
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red Gala apples. And they decided to cultivate
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it, and the Blondie apple was born.
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It's a little bit crunchier than a gala.
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It's matures around the same time, which is actually earlier
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than other yellow apples. It's got a good disease
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resistance to apple scab, and it also stores very well.
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But it has become its own variety, even though it was a
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mutation from another apple, which incidentally was a hybrid
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variety, right? So plant genetics and plant
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breeding is really fascinating. It's also very in depth.
00:17:06
Are you confused yet? Great, because we're going to go
00:17:08
one step further and we're going to talk about GM OS or GE,
00:17:12
genetically modified organisms and genetic engineering.
00:17:15
The reason we're going to talk about these is because I want
00:17:18
you to have all of the information at your disposal,
00:17:22
especially since these plants are becoming more prevalent.
00:17:25
You know, this podcast is all about the why behind the how.
00:17:29
And understanding why we would or wouldn't want to plant
00:17:33
something in our garden or buy something in the grocery store
00:17:37
is part of that. That is also coincidentally why
00:17:40
I'm still using Magic Mind with my coffee in the morning because
00:17:44
there is a why behind the creation of that product and
00:17:47
there's a why behind how it works.
00:17:49
The creator, James, ended up in the ER about I don't 10 days 10
00:17:54
years ago and the doctor diagnosed him with a heart
00:17:57
condition and told him that the two main culprits of that heart
00:18:02
condition were too much stress and too much caffeine,
00:18:06
particularly the combination of the both.
00:18:09
Now there's plenty of stress in farming and I love my coffee,
00:18:13
and James's doctor told him he had to limit himself to half a
00:18:16
cup of coffee a day. So his doctor also suggested
00:18:19
green tea because it is has compound compounds, sorry, that
00:18:25
extend the absorption of the caffeine and that give you a
00:18:29
feeling of calm. At the same time, it's keeping
00:18:32
you alert, which is why it makes so much sense that taking it
00:18:37
with my coffee in the morning instead of in the afternoon,
00:18:40
what, like a stand alone shot like I was before works so much
00:18:45
better. And it's not just the matcha
00:18:47
green tea that's in it. It's got lion's mane mushrooms
00:18:50
and it's got Cordyceps and turmeric and all kinds of
00:18:53
vitamins and all kinds of really good stuff.
00:18:55
And none of it is genetically modified.
00:18:57
So you can save a ton on a subscription to Magic Mind.
00:19:01
Like almost half off. Or you can do percent off a one
00:19:05
time order by going to magicmind.com/just Grow
00:19:08
Something and using code Just Grow Something 20 to try it
00:19:12
yourself. I'm telling you it makes a huge
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difference in my energy level and my focus throughout the day.
00:19:18
So magicmind.com/just grow something and use code.
00:19:21
Just grow something 20. OK, So what about genetic
00:19:26
modification? This topic has been
00:19:28
sensationalized and demonized, and I have my own personal
00:19:33
feelings about them, but let's start with the science.
00:19:38
Genetic engineering, in terms of fruits and vegetables, refers to
00:19:41
the scientific process of directly modifying the DNA of a
00:19:45
plant to achieve specific desired traits.
00:19:48
Unlike traditional breeding, which involves cross pollinating
00:19:51
plants over many generations, genetic engineering allows
00:19:55
scientists to make precise changes to a plant's genetic
00:19:58
makeup quickly and accurately. There's a reason that I use the
00:20:03
term genetic engineering more frequently than GMO or
00:20:08
genetically modified Organism. People like to play semantics
00:20:12
when they're arguing, and if you express concerns over the use of
00:20:16
GMO's, inevitably somebody comes back and says, well, all hybrids
00:20:20
are GMO's because you've manipulated the genes of the
00:20:22
plant by grass bleeding, blah blah blah.
00:20:24
OK, look, that's just an attempt to confuse the conversation or
00:20:28
ignore the science behind plant breeding, so I say genetic
00:20:32
engineering. There is a big, big difference
00:20:34
between selective breeding of a plant and targeting specific
00:20:38
genes of a plant in a lab. OK, so here is how genetic
00:20:43
engineering works in a nutshell. Plant scientists identify a
00:20:48
trait that they want to either enhance or introduce into a
00:20:52
fruit or vegetable, like increased resistance to pests or
00:20:55
faster growth or a longer shelf life or whatever.
00:20:58
They isolate the specific gene or genes that are responsible
00:21:02
for that trait. Now, this gene might come from
00:21:04
the same plant species, or it could come from a completely
00:21:07
different one. So you might have a gene that
00:21:10
makes a plant resistant to a particular pest that might be
00:21:14
taken from another plant that just naturally has that
00:21:18
resistance, right? And then scientists will insert
00:21:22
that isolated gene into the DNA of the target plant.
00:21:27
So this process might involve using what's called a bacterial
00:21:31
vector, that is a bacteria that will carry the gene to its
00:21:34
target. Or they use a gene gun which
00:21:37
delivers the new genetic material exactly where it's
00:21:40
needed. The modified plant cells are
00:21:44
then grown into full grown plants through tissue tissue
00:21:48
culture method and these plants will contain the new gene in all
00:21:53
of their cell and express the desired trait or traits.
00:21:57
The genetically engineered plants are then tested to make
00:22:01
sure that they perform the way that they're supposed to and
00:22:03
that they are safe for consumption and that they are
00:22:05
safe for the environment. And then when they've
00:22:07
successfully bred these plants, then they will breed them to
00:22:10
produce seeds that carry the new traits.
00:22:14
Very, very detailed, very scientific, right?
00:22:18
So at a high level, genetic engineering can actually help
00:22:23
reduce the need for chemical pesticides that can increase
00:22:26
crop yields. But it's also a real topic of
00:22:31
debate because there are discussions and concerns around
00:22:34
liberal and safety and environmental impact.
00:22:38
I would say probably the most high profile example of this is
00:22:45
the infamous Roundup Ready field corn that now caps for about 90%
00:22:51
of the US field corn crop. And the main concerns
00:22:55
surrounding this Roundup Ready corn is basically around
00:23:00
environmental health, but also human health and agricultural
00:23:04
practices. So in from environmental
00:23:07
standpoint, Roundup Ready corn is genetically engineered to be
00:23:11
resistant to glyphosate that is the active ingredient in the
00:23:15
herbicide Roundup. The problem is over reliance on
00:23:20
glyphosate has led to the evolution of glyphosate
00:23:24
resistant weeds. We call these super weeds.
00:23:27
They can be more difficult to control.
00:23:29
They may require the use of even more toxic herbicides or higher
00:23:33
quantities of herbicides in order to kill them off and that
00:23:36
just exacerbates the environmental damage that the
00:23:39
cornwoods originally bred to mitigate.
00:23:42
Purpose was to reduce the amount of herbicide being used, not
00:23:45
increase it. There are also concerns that the
00:23:49
extensive use of glyphosate can negatively impact non target
00:23:53
plant species. So things other than the weeds
00:23:56
you're trying to kill off and that the insects and the birds
00:23:58
and the other wildlife that depend on those plants are going
00:24:03
to have problems and that's going to reduce the biodiversity
00:24:08
in the agricultural areas where it's being used.
00:24:11
Not to mention, you know, we talked about soil health all the
00:24:14
time and glyphosate and its residues can absolutely affect
00:24:18
the soil microbial communities and we know that plays a crucial
00:24:22
role in nutrient cycling and soil health.
00:24:25
So there are all kinds of environmental, there are also
00:24:28
human health concerns. And I'm not even talking about,
00:24:32
you know, the question of whether or not it is safe to
00:24:35
consume genetically engineered foods because over and over
00:24:38
again, from a scientific standpoint, we have seen these
00:24:42
foods are safe to consume. Now, we don't know what extended
00:24:47
exposure or extended consumption can do.
00:24:49
Obviously, we can't look 100 years in the future, but the
00:24:52
human health concerns that are very prevalent right now is the
00:24:58
potential health effects of glyphosate on the people who are
00:25:02
using it, who are spraying it. So there have been studies that
00:25:05
have linked glyphosate exposure and certain health conditions,
00:25:09
specifically cancer, specifically non Hodgkin's
00:25:12
lymphoma. You know, even though the
00:25:14
regulatory agencies like the EPA say that it's safe when used as
00:25:17
directed bear, Monsanto has lost court cases here recently that
00:25:23
have told us otherwise. So that is a concern and with
00:25:28
that big concern, there is also a concern about the chemical
00:25:31
residues in our food. The presence of glyphosate in
00:25:35
food products made from Roundup Ready corn is a concern.
00:25:39
So yes, the regulatory agencies set a maximum level of residue
00:25:44
limits to ensure our safety and I'm using air bunnies here.
00:25:49
There are no studies, no long term studies on the accumulative
00:25:52
effects of that of the, you know, continuous consumption of
00:25:56
these foods. And then of course there are all
00:25:58
kinds of agricultural practice concerns, monocultures and crop
00:26:01
rotations, economic and market concerns.
00:26:04
There's ethical concerns. There are all kinds of concerns
00:26:07
that are specifically focused on, you know, Roundup Ready GMO
00:26:11
corn. So even though they can provide,
00:26:17
you know, simplified weed management and potentially
00:26:20
higher yields potentially, that also presents some environmental
00:26:26
and health and agricultural and ethical concerns that we have to
00:26:30
be concerned with as consumers. And that is where the stigma
00:26:36
from GMO or GE crops comes from. But that is just one type of
00:26:42
genetically engineered crop, and it is generally found in
00:26:45
processed foods on the grocery store shelves.
00:26:48
But there are genetically engineered fruit and vegetable
00:26:52
varieties being sold directly to consumers that don't come with
00:26:56
quite as many of the concerns, but that also don't come with
00:27:00
any labels. So what are some of these
00:27:03
genetically modified fruits and vegetables?
00:27:05
The first one might surprise you, and it is rainbow papaya.
00:27:10
So this was developed to resist the papaya ring spot virus.
00:27:15
That virus was set to absolutely decimate the Hawaiian papaya
00:27:21
industry. And so they developed this one.
00:27:25
And it was actually one of the first genetically engineered
00:27:28
fruits that was available to consumers.
00:27:30
If you have eaten papaya, specifically if you've eaten
00:27:33
Hawaiian papaya, but if you've eaten papaya just out of the
00:27:35
grocery store and here in the US, you likely have eaten a
00:27:39
rainbow papaya because it it is approximately 75% of the papaya
00:27:43
sold in the US. And there you wouldn't have any
00:27:47
idea that you had eaten it, right?
00:27:49
There's also the Arctic apple, which has been modified to
00:27:53
resist Browning when it's cut or bruised.
00:27:56
There's a Arctic golden, there's an Arctic granny.
00:27:58
There are several of them. There is also BT sweet corn, and
00:28:03
this one, you know, was for the longest time there wasn't sweet
00:28:06
corn that was genetically engineered.
00:28:08
And then all of a sudden they sort of burst onto the scene.
00:28:11
This is a type of corn that has been modified to express a
00:28:14
protein from bacterium Bacillus thuringensis.
00:28:17
And so we've talked about BT before as something that is used
00:28:21
in organic gardening to help reduce worm damage specifically.
00:28:27
So this corn has been modified to express that protein that
00:28:32
reduces the need for using chemical insecticides to be
00:28:36
sprayed on the corn for those ear worms, for the corn worms.
00:28:40
And there are also herbicide tolerant sweet corns as well.
00:28:43
So wrapped up ready sweet corn, which is sort of new.
00:28:47
There are at least 16 varieties that I know of genetically
00:28:53
engineered sweet corn, maybe more.
00:28:55
That's just what I've seen in my catalogs.
00:28:57
And you won't know if the sweet corn that you're buying has been
00:29:01
genetically engineered unless you know, like the names of all
00:29:05
of these and if it's being sold under a name brand.
00:29:08
There is also pink glow pineapple and is a pink
00:29:12
pineapple. It's been engineered to have
00:29:15
pink flesh and a sweeter taste. I believe it is marketed by the
00:29:18
Del Monte brand and it's marketed as a premium product,
00:29:23
so you'll probably have to pay more for it too when you get it.
00:29:26
And then there's also some varieties of summer squash,
00:29:28
specifically zucchini, that have been genetically modified to be
00:29:32
resistant to certain viruses, specifically zucchini, yellow
00:29:35
mosaic and water mosaic virus. Now, these genetically
00:29:40
engineered fruits and vegetables are absolutely available in your
00:29:43
local grocery stores. They may also be available at
00:29:47
your local farm stand depending on the size of your farmer, but
00:29:51
their presence may not be immediately apparent to you.
00:29:54
So they're sometimes sold under specific brand names or marketed
00:29:58
with special characteristics like non Browning or whatever.
00:30:02
And this is because of the labeling requirements in the USI
00:30:05
don't know if a lot of these varieties are available in other
00:30:09
countries, and the labeling laws in those other countries is not
00:30:13
known to me either. But I do know in the US, as of
00:30:17
2022, the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard
00:30:22
required that foods that contain genetically modified ingredients
00:30:25
were to be labeled as containing a bioengineered substance.
00:30:30
But that has bounced back and forth.
00:30:32
At one point, I think they were trying to, there was some
00:30:34
pushback. They were trying to repeal it
00:30:36
and then only California was doing it.
00:30:37
And that's it's just, it's a mess as far as I know, because I
00:30:41
still see it on labeling when I, when I look in the grocery store
00:30:43
that there are things that will say contains a bioengineered
00:30:46
food or contains a GE food, but that's for processed foods.
00:30:51
There is no requirement that I have found anywhere to label
00:30:55
fresh foods to identify them as genetically engineered.
00:31:01
And in case you're wondering, as of right now there are no
00:31:04
genetically modified tomatoes available.
00:31:07
And it's not that they haven't tried, it's just they've never
00:31:10
been very successful. And so they didn't have one that
00:31:12
was a flavor saver or something like that, and it just fell flat
00:31:15
and the growers didn't grow it. And so there's nothing
00:31:18
available. But these other ones are all
00:31:19
absolutely available in your local grocer.
00:31:23
So in terms of home gardening, generally speaking, GE fruits
00:31:29
and vegetable plants or seeds are not available for home
00:31:32
gardeners to grow. Most genetically engineered
00:31:35
crops are produced and sold by large AG companies and they are
00:31:39
primarily intended for commercial farming.
00:31:43
One of the reasons because of legal and licensing regulations
00:31:47
or restrictions, right genetically engineered seeds are
00:31:50
patented and their use is governed by very restrictive
00:31:53
licensing agreements. And the companies that produce
00:31:58
these seeds generally do not sell them in small quantities
00:32:01
that are suitable for a home gardener or even a market farmer
00:32:04
like myself. Like they focus on selling to
00:32:06
very large commercial farms who buy in bulk.
00:32:10
We are just not their target market, right?
00:32:13
I mean, the, the first of all, it's very expensive to develop
00:32:16
these seeds and the distribution is definitely geared towards
00:32:19
addressing problems that are more like large scale
00:32:23
agricultural challenges, you know, pest resistance, herbicide
00:32:26
tolerance, that type of thing, things that are more relevant to
00:32:29
commercial farming operations, not home gardeners.
00:32:32
Most of your grand center and your seed retailers likely
00:32:35
wouldn't sell these seeds anyway.
00:32:37
They wouldn't carry them. So they're going to offer you a
00:32:39
wide variety idea of hybrid seeds, but not genetically
00:32:43
engineered seeds. So some consumers like myself,
00:32:52
have concerns about the potential health and
00:32:55
environmental impacts of genetically engineered crops.
00:32:58
There are also ethical issues related to biotechnology and
00:33:03
more importantly, corporate control of the food supply.
00:33:07
If you go back to the fact that genetically engineered seeds are
00:33:10
patented, there is some argument that says you shouldn't be able
00:33:15
to put a patent on any type of a life form.
00:33:18
And what have we said a seed is? It is a plant in a little box
00:33:22
with a sack lunch, right? So it is a life form, but if we
00:33:27
look at it from another point of view, genetic engineering,
00:33:29
engineered fruits and vebbles can offer several advantages,
00:33:34
including reduced pesticide use, longer shelf life, improved
00:33:38
nutritional content. In fact, I was a staunch
00:33:42
opponent of genetic engineering in our food until I came across
00:33:46
the Golden Rice project, and that was during my undergrad
00:33:50
studies. Golden Rice is a genetically
00:33:52
engineered variety of rice that is designed to address vitamin A
00:33:57
deficiencies, which that is a very serious public health issue
00:34:01
in many developing countries. One that often leads to early
00:34:05
mortality and blindness in young children or blindness I should
00:34:09
say. The deficiency is very prevalent
00:34:13
in regions where diets are heavily based on rice or crop
00:34:18
and just don't contain enough vitamin A.
00:34:22
So golden rice is engineered to produce beta carotene which is
00:34:27
the precursor to vitamin A. They scientists that developed
00:34:31
this rights in the late 1990s inserted genes from daffodils
00:34:35
and then later on they replaced them with genes from maize or
00:34:38
corn and a bacterium into the rice genome.
00:34:42
And the genes enable the rice plant to produce big carotene in
00:34:47
the grain. It gives it a golden orangey
00:34:50
color, while when consumed, the human body converts beta
00:34:54
carotene into vitamin A. So the golden rice is intended
00:34:58
to be a supplementary source of vitamin A, and it has received
00:35:03
pushback from almost day one. It has faced extensive
00:35:08
regulatory scrutiny, gone through really slow approval
00:35:12
processes in many of the countries.
00:35:14
There have been resistance from some groups concerned about
00:35:16
safety and environmental impact just because it is a GMO.
00:35:21
But it has received regulatory approval in several countries,
00:35:24
including the Philippines and Bangladesh.
00:35:26
And they are continuing research and they're continuing to do
00:35:28
field trials. I just find it interesting that
00:35:31
a food that was engineered to literally save the site and the
00:35:38
lives of thousands of people in 3rd world countries continues to
00:35:43
face such scrutiny. When genetically engineered corn
00:35:49
that simply is allowing it to be sprayed with more pesticides, or
00:35:54
rainbow papaya and pink glow pineapple that have zero
00:35:59
nutritional advantage over the regular ones are readily being
00:36:03
sold to unsuspecting consumers on a daily basis.
00:36:07
And yet this food that could save people has seen nothing but
00:36:12
pushback, right? I think that tells us a little
00:36:14
bit about our food system and the power of the dollar, don't
00:36:18
you? So hopefully this episode gave
00:36:21
you some insight into what's open and pollinate, what's there
00:36:24
or hybrid, what genetically engineered foods are, so you can
00:36:29
understand the differences and make informed choices about what
00:36:31
to grow and what to buy based on your preferences and your
00:36:36
values. Until next time, my gardening
00:36:39
friends keep on cultivating that dream garden and we'll talk
00:36:41
again soon. Thanks for joining me on this
00:36:45
Focal Point Friday. I'll be back again on Tuesday
00:36:47
for another regular episode of the Just Grow Something podcast.
00:36:51
So until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating
00:36:53
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.