Semilla Besada Dryland Heritage Seed Library
A collection of local heritage seeds adapted for dryland Mediterranean environments
Semilla Besada has a library of organic seeds, which have been collected from our own vegetables, trees, shrubs and plants over a 10 year period.
Their origins are either from organic seed suppliers in France and England, or from traditional varieties grown by local farmers in the Lanjarón area in southern Spain.
They represent varieties that are suited to summer drought, low humidity and cold winters.
In order to expand our library, we offer the opportunity to exchange seeds with other growers from similar environments.
As it is important to continue to grown on varieties regularly, we are also interested in people who would like to grow seeds on our behalf under controlled conditions.
A proportion of the seeds are then returned to the library for future use.
Why bother to save local seed?
The only seeds that can be legally sold are those that are registered under national agriculture regulations.
Those seeds that are registered, represent an ever decreasing genetic pool, and an increasing predominance of hybrid or modified varieties which precludes growers from saving their own seed.
Six companies – Monsanto, Syngenta, Du Pont, Mitsui, Aventis, and Dow – control 98% of the world’s seed sales.
These developments threaten worldwide food security.
Loss of diversity
Did you know that Peru, the home of the potato, once grew some 4,000 varieties, each with its own name? A standard vegetable seed catalogue may now list only 34 varieties.
According to Indian crop ecologist, Vandana Shiva, humans have eaten 80,000 plants species in our recent history. Now three-quarters of all human food comes from just eight species.
In America consumers eat only 1% of the varieties of vegetables that were available a century ago.
This loss of diversity makes us very vulnerable to natural events, such as wet winters or prolonged droughts.
Join Us
If you are interested in joining us in our dryland seed saving initiative please complete the details below and send them to us. On receipt of your completed form we will send you a list of currently available seeds.
To ensure the delivery of our seed list and dryland heritage seed library news please add this email address to your address book: david@holisticdecisions.com
