An ancient practice now shares it's space with a new technology. One that has the agricultural and gardening world up in a tizzy. What's what, and what are we all so afraid of? Let me lay a few things out and give us all some much needed clarity.
Over the years, I've noticed a somewhat losing battle when it comes to the great debate. Gmo's vs hybrids vs grafts/clones.
Somehow these terms all became interchangeable within the gardening/agricultural community and much fear and speculation has circulated around these often touchy topics.
The misinformation, miseducation and overall ignorance have become quite disheartening. As the food sovereignty movement grows, the need to combat this is ever evident. So let me dig right in.
GMO's: "A GMO (genetically modified organism) is a plant, animal, or microorganism that has had its genetic material (DNA) changed using technology that generally involves the specific modification of DNA, including the transfer of specific DNA from one organism to another. Scientists often refer to this process as genetic engineering." -fda.gov
Genetically Modified Organisms are a new technology that came about with the advent of gene splicing and genetic manupulation. It's true, GMO's will never be found in nature, and so there is truth to the claim "GMO's are unnatural" the problem we run into is when people confidently claim that any hybrid or product that they are unfamiliar with is a GMO. Stop with the uneducated fear mongering gardening folks! You're doing the entire community a disservice. To date, and this is very easily searchable information. There are a set number of GMO products currently on the market, these include corn, soy, sugar beets, canola, cotton, summer squash, potatoes, apples, papaya, alfalfa and those pink pineapples they won't give us the tops to!
And feel free to ignore the GMO free seed claims, as this is simply a marketing gimmick. Unless you're a commercial farmer who has signed a lengthy and expensive contract for GMO seeds, no company is giving away their costly patented GMO seeds for the everyday gardener to pick up for .99c at family dollar. Chances are you'll never encounter a GMO seed in your life.
So now that you can take a deep sigh of relief, knowing GMO's really aren't as prevalent as you thought. Lets get into all the strange new produce you've been suspicious of. As a black woman and a black gardener/agriculturist, it has been my mission to reclaim many practices lost to my community. This includes the ancient indigenous knowledge that once helped to build and maintain our cultures and societies. So, I feel some type of way when I hear people speak ill of and demonize hybrids/clones/concepts they don't understand. My ancestors are personally offended that the practices they discovered, fine-tuned and intended to pass on to future generations was firstly stolen and secondly demonized by our own kin. So, now lets talk about Hybrids and grafts.
Hybrids: Long before Darwin came along to teach us some things he likely learned from our indigenous peoples, our ancestors were deep in the hybridization game. There was no crispr, no sterile lab environments, just the patience, ingenuity and understanding of nature that our foremothers and fathers had. Unlike GMO's, hybrids are most certainly found in nature. Look in the mirror next time you're on the fence about growing hybrid produce. You my friend are yourself, a product of hybridization. A hybrid of your parents, and your parents parents, and so on and so forth! Oh the joys of genetic recombination. That's why you have your dad's eyes, your mom's chin and your great grandpa's disposition!
We see this NATURAL process occurring daily through cross pollination of plants within the SAME SPECIES. When the little bee legs full of pollen do their thing in the garden, chances are, unless you strictly grow one variety of tomatoes and your neighbors grow that same variety, there's most definitely some hybridization going on. But we're not shouting conspiracies at the bees for taking part in genetic manupulation. Even thought, that's essentially what they're doing. Because for the most part, even the lay gardener understands the importance of pollination and cross pollination.
Yes! Cross pollination from two different varieties of tomatoes will produce a hybrid tomato in the NEXT generation of tomato seeds. And if that cross is successfully bred out and stabilized, a new tomato variety has been born. And if this new tomato variety is grown for enough generations, (50+ YEARS) congratulations you now have a unique new heirloom plant!
So, now that we've established that hybrid plants are as natural as you and me, let's take a quick look at clones and grafts. Yet another ancient technique we need NOT be fearful of. After all, Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster. So let's ignore the pitchfork hype and take a look at the science behind grafting.
Grafts: A plant that uses the favorable root system (root stock) of one variety of plant within the same species to grow another variety (scion).
To tie it to an allegory. Imagine a many greats away ancestor making an observation about a fruit tree in their native homeland. They notice a very compact mango tree growing near a very tall mango tree. Both trees are fruit bearing, and he tastes the fruit first from the compact tree, that is easily reachable. He doesn't like the taste of the fruit though, so he moves on to the fruit from the tall tree. This fruit tastes much better, but the fruit is considerably more difficult to reach. So ancestor starts thinking to himself. If only he could find a compact tree that had delicious mango like the tall tree.
I don't know by what means our ancestors where able to divine the properties and abilities of plants. But ancestor figured out that the fruit bearing limbs (scions) of one tree could be grafted onto the root stock of another. Maybe through the natural observation of how broken plant and tree limbs can self heal. Maybe through divine knowledge, did the plants themselves reveal their innermost secrets to our ancestors? Either way, they took this knowledge, grafted a branch from the delicious tall mango tree onto the compact tree's root system and passed the knowledge down from generation to generation.
Cloning, similarly to grafting consists of finding a favorable plant and propogating it, the difference is that a clone need not be grafted to another rootstock. Clones can be created simply by taking a cutting and rooting it, using various methods. We've lost much of this knowledge throughout this journey of life, but it still exists for us to find.
The natural world is full of wonders and mysterious things. But learning about them and understanding how things come to be allows us to alleviate some of our fears of the unknown. Our ancestors knew this. They were scientists, botanist and amazing engineers. They were fearless pioneers that paved the way for many of the best agricultural practices that we've sadly gotten away from today. So embrace the hybrid plants, embrace the grafted franken-tree and the seedless watermelon! Wait, SEEDLESS? Ok, we'll cover that next.
Comments