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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] A Guide to Heirloom Varieties and Community-Based Stewardship
  • Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 08:56:59 -0700


from A Guide to Heirloom Varieties and Community-Based Stewardship
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/heirloom/heirloom.htm

Like any heirlooms passed from generation to generation, the vintage
varieties of garden plants that we still grow today have lasting value.
Some old types of vegetables have been kept alive within families or
communities by succeeding generations of seed savers. Others with a long
history in the seed trade can be traced back to the 19th C., when commerce
in seeds expanded, or even to the Colonial period. Some consider true
heirlooms to be those belonging to the first group above, the "folk
varieties" that have existed for long periods outside of commercial and
professional plant breeding circles. Most, however, favor more inclusive
usage, viewing all traditional varieties, regardless of their lineage or
means of distribution, as bona fide heirlooms.

(In practical terms, making such distinctions can be difficult, since many
old varieties are poorly documented, and the same or similar varieties may
exist under different popular names. These uncertainties, along with
changes in physical traits that occur naturally as plants are continually
propagated over time, can make it difficult to know the origin and identity
of a particular cultivated variety. From a stewardship perspective, the
more inclusive view may be more useful, since both types are threatened
with commercial extinction, their continued survival depending largely on
popular interest and initiative. According to the 1994 Garden Seed
Inventory, for instance, two-thirds of the 5000 non-hybrid varieties
available in 1984 seed catalogs from North America were dropped during the
next decade.1)

With respect to heirlooms, how old is "old"? Most people agree that
heirloom vegetables and fruits are those types known through historical
documentation or folk history for at least 50 years. Dating to the early
20th C. and before, many originated during a very different agricultural
age--when localized and subsistence-based food economies flourished, when
waves of immigrant farmers and gardeners brought cherished seeds and plants
to this country, and before seed saving had dwindled to a "lost art" among
most North American farmers and gardeners. For apples, for instance,
antique apple grower and historian Lee Calhoun uses 1928 as the cut-off
date to delineate the heirloom varieties that were once grown in the U.S.
South. By this time, subsistence farming in the region had nearly
disappeared and commercial apple breeding was severely diminished.
(According to his research, only 300 of the 1600 apple varieties that
originated or were once grown in the South still exist.2)

In addition to their long history of use, the heirloom vegetables that are
routinely grown from seed are open-pollinated, meaning that they set seed
"naturally," often aided by wind, rain, or pollinating insects, and can
thus be renewed by sowing the seeds harvested from each generation of
plants. Known also as standard or non-hybrid, open-pollinated varieties
tend to be stable and true-breeding. They differ from F1 hybrids, which in
usual practice result from deliberate crossing of two distinct, highly
inbred parent lines. (The term "F1" to describe the hybrid offspring
indicates the "first filial" generation, with respect to the parent lines.)

Since their genetic makeup has been manipulated--and simplified--in this
way, F1 hybrids tend to be highly uniform, and may display "hybrid vigor,"
as shown by improved yields or more robust garden or field performance.
Irrespective of hybrid vigor (which tends to occur in particular kinds of
plants, including corn and brassicas), hybrids are used increasingly in
large-scale, intensive agriculture because they provide production
advantages for farmers and commercial incentives for seed sellers. The
benefits of hybrids tend to be less cut-and-dried for home gardeners,
however, and saving seeds from hybrids is problematic. Although seed
collected from F1 hybrids may be viable, the resulting plants tend to be
highly variable, hence undesirable for many growers and especially
un-economical for commercial producers. Thus, gardeners and farmers who
grow hybrids must return to the seed company each year to obtain the same
varietal "package."

Many of the perennial fruits grown in gardens and orchards (including
slow-growing trees and shrubs), and also a few of the more popular garden
vegetables (such as potatoes and onions), are propagated routinely by plant
pieces or cuttings, rather than by seeds. In addition to faster maturity, a
distinct advantage offered by grafting apple trees or planting potato
"eyes" (the portion of the tuber containing the growing point) is that
these procedures preserve varietal identity. With apples and a number of
other tree fruits, for instance, desired traits are not passed reliably
through seeds, and many potato varieties fail to flower or to produce
functional seeds. For these kinds of plants, like the vegetables typically
grown from seed, heirloom varieties are also the distinct named types known
for at least a half-century or so.

Growing interest in heirlooms. Although they belong to the past, heirloom
varieties of vegetables and fruits are by no means obsolete. Since the
1970s, an expanding popular movement dedicated to perpetuating and
distributing these garden classics has emerged among home gardeners and
small-scale growers, with interest and endorsement from scientists,
historians, environmentalists, and consumers. Although active seed savers
tend to be a minority among the millions of Americans who plant a garden,
broad-based support has expanded for grassroots plant conservation networks
such as Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa, and Seeds of Diversity Canada, two
organizations in North America with national scope. A variety of other
groups with local or regional membership, or with ethnic or crop-oriented
focus, are also active.

With support from these networks, the seeds of vintage varieties are being
introduced--or reintroduced--to the garden seed trade, and old varieties of
vegetables and fruits are appearing at local farmers' and specialty
markets. New, independent seed companies offering unique collections of
regionally adapted varieties have emerged (a trend that serves, in some
degree, to fill the void created from the decline in recent decades in
long-established, regional seed companies, which have been displaced or
absorbed by corporate seed and agrichemical firms serving national and
global markets). Fruit hobbyist groups--whose members include antique and
rare fruit enthusiasts--are thriving, and old fruit varieties are
increasingly available from specialized and mainstream nurseries.
Traditional crop varieties are being restored to native farmers and
gardeners, and associated farming traditions revived. In addition, growing
and disseminating authentic old varieties have become important program
elements at a number of living historical farms and open-air museums.
Besides bolstering the heirloom movement, these activities (which are often
supported by historical research to discover the past uses and values of
particular plants, and historical growing methods) lend vital support to
the museums' work in recreating the foodways and lifeways of earlier
generations.

Heirloom appeal and related issues. Interest in traditional varieties has
been gaining momentum for a variety of reasons that are as diverse and
difficult to characterize as the old varieties themselves. They reflect
practical motives (which are based, for instance, on garden performance or
epicurean interests), as well as curiosity and nostalgia, and also broader
philosophical interests and social concerns. The opportunity to take an
active role in preserving the genetic repository still existing in our
garden vegetables and fruits--although impoverished in comparison to
earlier periods--has been a strong motivator for many heirloom
preservationists. And for some, interest in heirlooms relates strongly to
the perceived limitations of modern hybrids and other exclusive varieties,
which can be said to lack "pride of ancestry or hope of posterity."3

Novelty, nostalgia, and general merit. Many heirloom enthusiasts have
discovered the endless variety and novelty still existing among the old
types of vegetables and fruits. To some, their sensory qualities (unusual
shapes, distinctive colors, and uncommon flavors), as well as departure
from standard fare, are especially appealing. Even the old names exercise
the imagination, suggesting the unconventional, and in some cases,
recalling the "sounds and tastes and tales of gardeners past."4 (To name
only a few within the existing pool of old varieties...consider the
Cherokee Trail of Tears bean...or Moon and Stars watermelon...or Bloody
Butcher and Howling Moon corns...or Sops of Wine, Esopus Spitzenburg, and
Rambo apples...) According to ethnobotanist Gary Nabhan, expressions of
curiosity and kindness on the part of crop stewards have, in themselves,
helped to foster varietal diversity, and continue to support the
perpetuation of traditional varieties.5 To explain the enormous variation
in the shapes and colors of beans found among different cultures around the
world, one scientist has suggested that, in addition to yield, hardiness,
and flavor, beans have been selected for their beauty, "to feed not only
the body but the spirit."6

Beyond their novelty, sentimental, or aesthetic appeal, heirlooms are
considered by many who grow them to be top performers in home gardens, or
under conditions that likewise differ from intensively managed, commercial
norms, and where toughness and dependability are desirable. Or, they stand
out in situations that display their out-of-the-ordinary
qualities--superior flavor or cooking properties, for instance, or unique
harvest or storage characteristics. Many traditional varieties display
combinations of traits that make them especially responsive to local or
regional conditions, or well-suited to particular growing methods (such as
those used in organic, low-external-input, or permaculture systems), or
tolerant of local pests and diseases, or other stresses and constraints.
The corn and bean varieties developed by native Southwestern farmers, for
instance, are highly adapted to the local soils, climate, and growing
methods that shaped them, allowing survival of the plants, along with their
caretakers, under harsh, dryland conditions.

Some of these sought-after heirlooms--a drought-tolerant bean; an
insect-resistant or high-protein corn; a cold-hardy tomato; or an apple
variety that bears early, or stores well, or is exceptional for baking,
cider-making, or fresh-eating--have fallen from favor because they are not
widely adapted, or they fail to satisfy commercial production standards or
mainstream tastes. These factors limit the ability of the old varieties to
compete against newer introductions whose general or specific attributes
(or in some cases, their novelty) have broader appeal, making them less
profitable to seed and plant merchants.

Sustaining connections. Those who grow and disseminate old varieties are
offered a tangible means to engage the past, and also to cultivate
community relationships and associated values of participation, equity, and
sustainability.7 Some seed savers perpetuate a family legacy, or share
favorite plants with neighbors or friends. Others express community or
tribal kinships by growing varieties that are central to traditional, local
foods and cuisines, or to religious practices, or that embody other
cultural meanings. Some who delve into the histories of particular local or
ethnic varieties discover connections to fading agricultural traditions and
rhythms, and to the social customs of past generations. Some heirloom
advocates have taken to heart Wendell Berry's urgings to "learn the life
histories of the food species," to assist in reducing the growing gap
between food producers and consumers.8

Patronizing old varieties and exploring their histories may offer gardeners
(and other eaters) the means to honor the ancient crop stewards who
domesticated and further refined our food plants, or to salute the efforts
of more modern plant breeders and the years of effort often invested in a
single improved variety. One writer, in referring to the plant selection
efforts of North American farmers in the previous century alone, has noted
that the genetic base that underpins our highly productive crops, which was
adapted largely from imported plant materials, resulted from "thousands of
experiments by thousands of farmers committing millions of hours of labor
in thousands of diverse ecological niches over a period of many decades."9

Preserving alternatives. Particularly within the agricultural sector, there
is growing awareness that crop surpluses, supermarket abundance, and
product and brand name proliferation (albeit conditions more common to the
developed nations) mask a general decline in agricultural diversity, which
spans farming and food systems, from farmers' fields to food processing and
distribution. Of particular concern to garden stewards is the serious
decline in our food plants' genetic base, as evidenced by significant
reduction, especially within this century, in the range of vegetable and
fruit varieties grown on farms and in gardens. According to the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, crop genetic resources are being
lost, on a global scale, at the rate of 1-2% per year.10 Many who support
the preservation of heirlooms and other "public domain" varieties are
working to safeguard a portion of this diminishing legacy, and also to
address the factors that have contributed to its decline, and threaten to
further undermine broad public participation in food production.

In North America and similar agricultural settings, a variety of forces
play out to reduce genetic richness in the crop and livestock base, and in
consequence, to lessen the ecologic and economic resilience of farming
systems. Despite impressive yield gains in modern production agriculture,
widespread adoption of simplified farming systems with low genetic
diversity carries a variety of risks. In the short term, such systems risk
potential crop failure, and in the longer term, they encourage the demise
of the broad genetic base that contributes to high yields, and thus
compromise the future genetic health of crop populations. The devastating
ruin of the Irish potato crop during the last century, and more recent crop
losses from the Southern corn leaf blight in the U.S. in 1970, signaled
clearly the dangers of genetic uniformity in our staple food crops.

Especially prominent among the "enemies" of genetic diversity are the
economic and social pressures that have influenced breeding practices that
promote uniformity, and have encouraged extensive cultivation (within crop
monocultures) of preferred varieties with low variability. In addition,
these forces have stimulated decline in seed companies serving local and
regional markets, and heightened losses in seed-saving traditions among
farmers (themselves a disappearing breed) and gardeners.

Beyond our borders, similar influences shape events in the developing
world, including the sites where many of our important food crops have
originated and evolved. In some of these "centers of diversity," a variety
of homogenizing forces imperil survival of vast numbers of existing
"landraces," the heterogeneous, locally adapted, farmer-bred crop varieties
that have traditionally supported local food producers and rural
communities. Along with their wild relatives, these "gene treasures" 11
deliver the genetic infusions that are needed to improve crops the world
over. Here also, the results are farming systems with diminished
ecological, biological, and genetic complexity, fewer farmers with reduced
seed-saving skills, and impoverished natural habitats.

It is widely agreed that wise management of our biological resources is
central to ensuring food abundance. While broad public interest barely
exists, issues relating to plant and animal genetic resources have taken
center stage within the agricultural arena. How best to safeguard
diminishing plant and animal biodiversity, while enhancing crop
productivity to serve expanding food and fiber needs, and also preserving
social and economic equity, have become issues of serious international
debate.

Concerns over "genetic erosion" (the continuing, absolute losses in crop
species and varieties) are intensified by questions surrounding ownership
and equitable access to plant genetic materials. Various stakeholders--from
North American seed savers to Third World farmers--are apprehensive over
potentially widespread use of bioengineered varieties, including the
specter of "terminator" seeds that fail to reproduce.12 Of concern also are
expanded uses of legal mechanisms (such as patents and plant breeders
rights, or restrictive commercial seed lists) that remove plant germplasm
from public use. Alongside the many opportunities and challenges offered to
the agricultural sector and society-at-large, at the farm and garden gates,
these developments may work to further limit growers' access to seeds--the
fundamental materials of plant breeding and propagation--and potentially to
risk further declines in plant genetic diversity.

Fostering participation and choice. Preserving a measure of personal or
community independence is an important motivation for many who perpetuate
heirlooms and other public domain varieties, whether a grower plants a
garden for the many pleasures it brings, or chooses particular foods for
the table. Seed saving is inherently self-reliant, allowing people to
bypass the seed trade and to maintain choice varieties found commercially
wanting, or to breed desired types themselves. (Organic growers, for
instance, who seek to grow "full-cycle," are working to ensure the
continued availability of organically grown seeds, which may lose quality
as they become economically marginalized.) Alongside farmers' markets,
community-supported agriculture, urban and community gardens, and similar
initiatives, grassroots efforts to preserve heirlooms and other
commonly-held varieties may contribute to efforts to return food production
and consumption from "the global everywhere"13 to serve more locally
responsive and regionally reliant food economies.14

Community-based stewardship. There are considerable ongoing efforts by
national governments and international organizations to preserve plant
germplasm (i.e., seeds and other plant materials) in "genebanks" (known
also as ex situ or "offsite" storage). These measures fall short as
fail-safe approaches, however, since they "protect the products of
evolution, but not the process,"15 and they rely heavily on continued
political stability and support, including sustained governmental funding.
Although their stored plant materials are held for public use, the U.S.
collections, in particular, fail to serve the direct needs of many
gardeners and other small-scale growers, since the stored materials are
largely those favored by professional plant breeders to improve commercial
crops. Thus, the national collections consist overwhelmingly of breeding
lines and other specialized types of germplasm, as well as farmers'
landraces and wild relatives of crop species. The old commercial varieties
and family heirlooms of various garden crops (many of them lacking the
"deep diversity" typically sought by breeders), and crops with low
commercial appeal, have received less priority. (Limited institutional
resources, alongside the recent growth of alternative suppliers in the form
of grassroots seed banks and exchanges, work also to restrict seeds and
other materials to professional users who, in exchange for plant germplasm,
agree to return agronomic information on the seeds and other materials
received.)

Within the "PGR community" (i.e., those with diverse roles and interests in
managing plant genetic resources), there is expanding support for
conservation strategies that rely on more natural settings, including
farmers' fields and garden plots. Managing crop resources under these
conditions, which are a form of in situ conservation (or conservation "in
place"), may serve to enhance and complement the "Noah's Ark"16 strategy
that has been emphasized traditionally in the formal conservation sector.
Within their original and natural environments, crop plants are subjected
to particular changing conditions and stresses, and thus are continually
shaped by natural selection. A further advantage, from the point of view of
community stewards, is that such measures put vital plant germplasm into as
many "hands" as possible. People are thus allowed continued access to plant
materials valued for their horticultural, cultural, and historical
relevance, and with their qualities--for better and worse--clearly
visible.17

Variety's merits. As their commercial demise suggests, the old vegetable
and fruit varieties are not uniformly appreciated. To some, they are
retrograde,18 championed by people seeking a return to simpler times.
Others doubt that quality seeds can be produced by gardeners or farmers,
and farmers' breeding efforts are generally dismissed as nonprogressive.
Some have disparaged the "confused condition" that accompanies varietal and
name proliferation,19 and decentralized production and conservation, and
question whether nonspecialists can, or should, play an important role in
conserving plant genetic resources.

Among gardeners, many choose freely among the growing array of old and new
varieties currently available, acknowledging the gains (such as improved
disease and pest resistance) conferred by plant breeders, and advances in
seed purity and quality provided by professional seed producers. Heirloom
promoter Carolyn Jabs has acknowledged, for instance, that in light of
modern breeding work, as well as changing tastes and environments over
time, "some heirlooms do resemble museum pieces."20 Likewise, Seed Savers
Exchange co-founder, Kent Whealy, has asserted that the network is not
"anti-hybrid," but he points out that the ascendency of modern hybrids has
loomed large in the "wholesale destruction of traditional standard
varieties."21

Narrowing discussion of the values of old and new varieties to their
respective horticultural merits ignores the broader appeal of traditional
varieties--as cultural, historical, and genetic resources--and deflects the
complex issues that surround their use. Focusing attention on "need for
improvement" in old varieties discounts the potential tradeoffs in terms of
diversity, quality, and broad public participation that have accompanied
specialization, standardization, and consolidation in agricultural
production.22 Or, to paraphrase another observer, "[E]very seed of change,
whether accidental or incidental, [has] both positive and negative
consequences."23

In the end, the question of whether old or new varieties are "better"
remains elusive, since the answer implies values and priorities: Better for
whom, and for what purposes? As seed activists Cary Fowler and Pat Mooney
have written, "Someone else's seeds imply someone else's needs."24 Growing
old varieties allows people to express their individual tastes and
preferences, and their personal or commonly-held beliefs about what is
worth sustaining. As Carolyn Jabs has put it: "In a world...changing so
rapidly, one of the most meaningful things we can preserve...is a full
range of possibilities."25

More than seventy-five years ago, Liberty Hyde Bailey asked readers of The
Apple Tree, "Why do we need so many kinds of apples?" His answer--"Because
there are so many folks."26 In the same book, the eminent American
horticulturalist lauded the part played by the "amateur" in creating,
appreciating, and preserving variety in our domestic fruits, declaring that
"when we lose the amateur, we lose the ideals."27 Professor Bailey
anticipated the views of modern heirloom stewards when he stated that
"...there is merit in variety itself. It provides more contact with life,
and leads away from uniformity and monotony."28

A note on terminology: The terms used to describe old varieties are varied
and often used loosely. Some writers lump together such terms as landraces,
and folk, traditional, indigenous, or heirloom varieties. Others make
distinctions among these different terms, reflecting differences in the
geographic and cultural histories of old varieties (and thus their genetic
diversity aspects). The term "landraces," for instance, is favored by
scientists and seed professionals to indicate the particular kinds of old
varieties that are farmer-selected in areas where local subsistence
agriculture has long prevailed. (According to this usage, among the New
World crops, "landraces" is most accurately applied to the varieties of
corn, squash, and beans, for instance, that were domesticated by native
farmers, and further modified by native and also immigrant farmers.)

For the purposes of this publication, the term "heirloom" is used broadly
and synonymously with such terms as traditional, vintage, antique,
heritage, or classic, since each of these terms conveys the age and
perceived value of heirlooms, but says little about who grows them, or
where, or how. This usage follows that of plant breeder, Carolyn Deppe, who
describes the seed-propagated vegetable heirlooms as "any old
open-pollinated variet[ies] that [have] been around for a while."29 Also
for this publication, the term "historical varieties" denotes the distinct
plant types known from historical documentation; when they still exist
today, they are called "heirlooms" or the equivalent. Otherwise, the terms
used to describe old varieties are adopted, or inferred, from the
respective authors' more specific or contrary usage.





  • [Livingontheland] A Guide to Heirloom Varieties and Community-Based Stewardship, Tradingpost, 01/16/2005

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