Seeds of Hope

I recently had the pleasure of watching Seed: The Untold Story, a thought-provoking documentary exploring the importance of seeds to human society and survival. It weaves together a variety of stories, from people who make it their life’s work to guard biodiversity by preserving seeds to those who have been harmed by efforts to maximize the profitability of commercialized seeds. Two particularly colorful characters, dubbed “botanical explorers,” travel to remote ecosystems throughout the world, searching for rare or unknown plants that can be used as food. After learning how locals prepare the plants, the explorers harvest some, sequestering the seeds for preservation, possibly for use in similar ecosystems elsewhere or, as one explorer notes, for use more broadly in the future, when it is discovered that the seeds have genetic immunity to an as-yet-to-be-evolved disease.

While the idea of a botanical explorer might sound fanciful, the loss of biodiversity in the global food supply and the concomitant vulnerability to disease seem quite real. According to Seed, 94% of vegetable varieties were lost during the 20^th century, an appallingly high figure that fortunately is likely not as egregious in reality. Although the film does not delve into the details, a little bit of time on the internet uncovers a paper by two University of Georgia academics that indicates two reasons not to immediately get depressed about what sounds like a catastrophic blow to biodiversity. Firstly, the seed catalogs from 1903 used to compare seed availability when reaching the 94% figure often referred to the same variety by different names, inflating the apparent number of offerings at the beginning of the 1900s. Secondly, while some of the earlier species may be extinct, new varieties have been developed, so overall biodiversity has not necessarily suffered.

Of course, that does not address the problem broached by one of the botanical explorers that specific seeds might hold the keys to safeguarding the global food system against pestilence. Even if the overall number of varieties has not changed much, the extinction of even just one still represents lost knowledge. Presumably, that is why Seed spends a lot of time introducing the audience to people and places around the world dedicated to preserving seeds, from the Native Americans of Arizona and New Mexico to farmers and gardeners concerned about losing particular heirloom varieties to the so-called “Doomsday” seed vault in Svalbard, Norway. This last, although owned and administered by the government of Norway, is operated for the benefit of the world’s entire population. Svalbard was chosen because the surrounding environment is cold enough to ensure the seeds will remain frozen even in the event of climate change. The facility has the capacity for 4.5 million seed samples and is buried deep enough to withstand bombing, a particularly important feature – one expert interviewed by the documentary team points out how often seed banks have been among the first casualties of war, as competing powers have tried to control the food supply.

Control of the food supply is a major topic wending its way through the film. Indian activist Vandana Shiva talks about the role genetically modified (GM) seeds have played in the increase in farmer suicides in India, a theme first brought to international attention in The World According to Monsanto in 2008 and dealt with deeply in the 2011 documentary Bitter Seeds. As Shiva points out, controlling the seeds is tantamount to controlling the food, and many farmers sell their heirloom seed stashes and take on debt to buy GM seeds that promise larger yields. However, the fact that sexual reproduction – the method favored by many crops – randomizes the inheritance of traits means that the offspring of GM crops do not consistently exhibit GM traits, and therefore can’t be used as second-generation seeds. Consequently, once farmers have shifted to GM crops, they are beholden to the purveyors of the GM seeds unless they can break the cycle of debt that many do not seem to understand they are taking on. Part of this is a problem of poor education, which NGOs have sought to remedy with some success, but part of it is also a problem of ecology and law, which the rest of Seed seeks to address. Unfortunately, this is the weakest section of the film.

Given that the project was funded by a Kickstarter campaign, perhaps it was beyond the budget to involve contrary voices, but unlike the importance of biodiversity, the proper place of GM crops in the global food supply does not benefit from broad consensus. Including some dissent – an economist who believes GM crops or other patent-protected innovations are crucial to feeding the world, for instance, or a scientist who thinks that genetically modifying crops to be drought-resistant could help allay global famine as Earth warms – would have bolstered the core argument that there is something almost sacred about seeds that is being overlooked in the drive toward commercialization. Instead, Seed takes the audience to Hawaii, where many of the world’s biotech companies have their test fields.

Some of the most famous genetic modifications to seeds make them resistant to the chemical insecticides and herbicides manufactured by the companies sponsoring the modifications. Since Hawaii has multiple growing seasons and a variety of microclimates, it is an ideal location for the biotech companies to try new combinations of products. As sketched out via interviews with local residents – including a professional surfer – the products sometimes turn out to be toxic, causing obviously linked symptoms in some cases (students on a soccer field adjacent to spraying experiencing physical distress requiring immediate medical attention) and suspected links in others (an increased incidence of cancer in the Waimea community near Syngenta test fields).

To expand the web of human distress perpetuated by the biotech industry, the filmmakers include interviews with farmers from other parts of the US concerned about contamination – either because their business model depends on the purity of their crop or because they fear litigation. Montana’s own Jon Tester, one of our two US Senators, features in this section, opining as an organic wheat farmer that his livelihood could be destroyed by pollution from a GM crop. Another farmer describes his astonishment at opening his mail to discover that Monsanto was suing him for breach of patent – apparently a neighbor’s GM seed had traveled on a wayward wind and romantically sidled up to his.

At this point, the film seems a long way from the Svalbard seed vault, which is perhaps why British Jane Goodall is interviewed…the UK and Norway are both in Europe! She is an interesting choice to feature as someone speaking out against the idea of patenting seeds. Although her Roots and Shoots program has encouraged environmental education since 1991, it is unclear how her principal occupation as a primatologist makes her especially qualified to speak about the ethics of “patenting life,” as she calls it. Her inclusion seems like a gimmick to garner name recognition, and an actual expert on the evolution of patent law as technology and biology have merged would have been more informative, particularly since this is one of the fastest-growing spheres of innovation not just in food but also in the area of health more broadly.

Overall, the film would have been stronger if it had focused exclusively on the unique subject of preserving seeds – the history of those efforts, an examination of their motivations, and the adventures of the various people involved – and avoided trying to opine on current attempts to modify seeds, an already much-discussed subject. Nevertheless, even the shakier biotech section doesn’t diminish the value of the overall film. It is important for all of us to question why we have so readily abdicated control over one of our most basic needs, and bringing us back to where it all starts – the seeds – is an excellent place to begin. Whether people believe it is anthropogenic or not, climate change is affecting a broader swathe of the globe, threatening future food supplies to the developed as well as the developing world. We may not be able to check climate change, but if we protect and cherish our seeds, perhaps there is hope that we will not starve. Any film that entertains (botanical explorers!) as it helps us recognize that is worth watching.