What are genetically modified seeds?

Genetically Modified crops are a step beyond hybrids. By definition GM seed is unnatural. Importantly, GM seed in Australia is restricted to commercial canola and cotton. The controls on imported food is less strict.

The problem with GM seed is we simply don’t know if they are harmful or not. Because of the expense of research and the vested interests at play, unbiased assessments of genetically modified organisms is hard to come by. It may be that the real threat of GM seeds lies in the uses they can be put to consolidate control of food production in fewer hands.

The ultimate end game of genetic modification is the “terminator gene” developed to produce so called “suicide seeds” that will protect seed company copyright by producing only sterile offspring. While GM seeds raise environmental, health and consumer rights concerns, at the moment as backyard gardeners we will not encounter these seeds, for the moment anyway.

The problem will come in the future if more varieties of crops are allowed it will be increasingly hard for us to isolate non-GM crops from pollen contamination. So when it comes to choosing your seed take back some power and grow the varieties you want to grow, not the seed the big seed companies want to sell you.

Revel in the richness of heritage and taste that come from choosing heirloom varieties. If you are interested in saving your own seed open pollinated varieties are definitely the go.

Don't be afraid of hybrids, as long as they are bred for vigour and flavour, there really are some F1 gems. In the end growing our own plants from seed is the ultimate empowering act, the closest we will come to alchemy.