Friday, October 29, 1999, 9:46:24 AM, you wrote:
...
DW> This kind of fundamental, human-mediated evolution lies at the
DW> root of agriculture and is interlocked with the evolution of human
DW> culture.
Agreed.
DW> Just about all our fruit species came from Asia, for
DW> example.
Disagreed. The avocado, papaya, tomato, the various classes of sapotes
(white, yellow, mamee & chico), and the annonas (sp?) - like the
cherimoya are all from the Americas, and there are varities of grapes
and persimmons that are also; muskmelons are from Persia, bananas and
watermelon from Africa, Mangos from India (this is just off the top of
my head and there are no doubt many more).
DW> Our most serious pests are fairly recent introductions
DW> too. Such manipulation is only "unnatural" if you believe that
DW> humans (or the human mind) is not part of nature. I am not saying
DW> that everything we do is desirable or good, just that appeal to
DW> natural law is a weak foundation in these matters.
Glad we agree.
>> The goal initially, with selection, cross pollination and
>> grafting was to bend the plants to our needs- production,
>> flavor and nutrition. The goal of hybrids was to do all
>> this AND own a variety which didn't breed true- to make
>> growers dependent on seed companies.
>> The same is true of GMOs. They are obviously harder to reproduce
>> and can be patented, since they're man made. (You know damn well
>> that God wouldn't be caught dead creating such a thing).
DW> Okay, Okay! let's deal with this head on. If I am smart and
DW> organized enough to come up with superior varieties, what is wrong
DW> with my protecting them from people who would steal them? Don't I
DW> have a right to earn a living?
Linux versus Microsoft.
DW> Mike wrote (in response to Douglas I think):
>> You are saying then that with some work/?luck? I can take my hybrid
>> and turn it into a stable Open-Pollinated variety with the same
>> characteristics. Then why are we spending all this money on hybrid
>> seeds? so why not develop our own open pollinated types that works
>> best in our own area?
DW> Because selection pressures experienced by OP corn tend to select against
DW> certain important traits.
You want to begin by studying the issues involved.
DW> But I would encourage you to try (if you do, I think you will
DW> decide that Pioneer Seed is a pretty good deal). You might want to
DW> emulate the successful 19th century farmer-seedsmen from whom we
DW> have received our most productive germplasm, people like James
DW> Reid (Reid Yellow Dent) and Issac Hershey (Lancaster Sure-Crop).
DW> Forrest Troyer wrote an excellent review article on these OP
DW> breeders "Background of U.S. Hybrid Corn" (Crop Science
DW> 39:601-626) In summary he wrote "Adaptation is everything - the
DW> sole driving force of evolutionary biology. Better adaptation to
DW> the environment means higher yielding corn. U.S. corn breeding is
DW> accelerated evolution to adapt a tropical crop to a temperate
DW> environment."
Good tips, Dale
DW> Dale
DW> PS: If anyone is interested in development of OP supersweets with good seed
DW> vigor, I would be happy to share my germplasm with you and cooperate in
DW> breeding.
Good offer, Dale. That puts things one major step ahead. You may
well become the Bill Stallings of the grow and share your own seed
movement, cornerstone of the next green revolution (green in grass,
not so much as in greenbacks. Having the grass greener on all sides
of the fence).
Who wants to take Dale up on this? Who else is interested in
participating?
Douglas Hinds, CeDeCoR, A.C.
Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural, Asociacion Civil
(Center for Rural and Community Development, a non-profit organization)
Cordoba, Veracruz; Cd. Guzman, Jalisco & Reynosa, Tamaulipas Mexico
dmhinds@acnet.net, cedecor@acnet.net
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