The piece below is a short extract from an original article written by Seed Sovereignty Programme Lead, Sinéad Fortune, with Amber Hayward, published in Terralingua’s Langscape Magazine ➡️ Click here to read the article for free or support Terralingua by purchasing the full issue.
Learning from seeds, the kernels of life, we can reimagine an economy rooted in abundance and reciprocity.
Seed is the currency of hope, of potential. These life-bearing parcels are the foundations of our entire food system. And yet, around them, power dynamics have sprouted. An increase in seed privatization, research has shown, has resulted in more than sixty percent of the world’s seed being owned by four petrochemical companies and a seventy-five percent loss in plant genetic diversity since the turn of the twentieth century. It is time to reevaluate our modern relationship with the seed economy.
Nature is inherently generous, not only with her bounty but also with her knowledge. What can an understanding of seed teach us about the potential to regrow an economic system based on abundance and reciprocity?
The idea that a seed can be “owned” is new. In the words of Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food to the UN Human Rights Council, “Seeds are so central to people’s cultures and food systems [that] to control seeds is to control life.”
But can seed really be owned? Every time a new variety is developed, only a fraction of the seed’s genetic makeup is modified. For the food we consume today, we owe gratitude to thousands of years of seed stewardship by communities who freely have been sharing their seeds, not the corporations undermining this history for profit. Seed can (and perhaps should) be considered part of the commons. Not owned but enjoyed, tended to, and passed on by many hands, paws, and claws.
The seed and its generosity, its purpose and ability to replicate bountifully, is a stubborn opponent of the industrial food system. However, hybridization, patents, and genetically modified (GM) or genetically engineered (GE) organisms all threaten the very nature of seed. These efforts to control seed could be purposeful attempts to counteract their inbuilt resistance to commodification by making seed static, scarce, and linear to preserve our reigning economic model.
If, however, we remember the seed’s abundance — saving, sharing, and adapting to its image — we will have the grounds for a flourishing, resilient food system equipped to address food insecurity and climate change. And this is not to mention the flavor and nutritional benefits of seeds not grown simply for uniformity and financialization.
Should we, then, continue to accept the attempted control of seed, or should we strive to learn from its very nature? What kind of economy do we choose to be actors in: one of scarcity and commodification or one of abundance, gratitude, and reciprocity? If we can open ourselves to accepting these gifts of the earth for what they are, can we reciprocate through a system that serves life?
