I saw the shocking infographic below the other day for the first time and couldn’t believe my eyes.
From 1903 to 1983, only 80 short years, a whopping 93% of seed varieties have been lost to industrialized agriculture.
The infographic put out by John Tomanio of National Geographic masterfully illustrates the ever dwindling variety of our food seeds in shocking manner.
In 1903, a full 500 varieties of lettuce were available from commercial seed houses. By 1983, only 36 remained.
During the same 80 year period, corn varieties plummeted from 307 to just 12.
What the infographic does not detail is the further encroachment to seed variety that genetically modified foods have caused from 1983 to the present day.
With the alarming rise of GM corn in the food supply, for example, even the paltry 12 corn varieties that remain have been largely shoved aside in favor of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready GM Corn which now doesn’t even have to be labeled in supermarkets when sold as “fresh” produce!
If the Infographic below alarms you as much as it does me, please consider participating in the urgent project Drop the Money Bomb on Monsanto.
According to the Organic Consumer’s Fund, this campaign is attempting to accomplish the following:
Between May 1 and May 26, a broad coalition of food, farm, health, public interest, and environmental groups all over the country, joined by leading organic food companies, will attempt to raise one million dollars to support the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, a citizens’ ballot initiative, and other state GMO-labeling campaigns.
Monsanto’s quest to control the seeds of the world is a severe threat to the few natural varieties still remaining! If GM foods are labeled, GM foods will disappear due to the fact that the vast majority of consumers reject them.
I shudder to think that a similar Infographic in another few decades might primarily list only GM produce varieties!
Please help! Share the urgency of this project with those close to you and please participate yourself if at all possible!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Wow! I had no idea….I’m finally growing container gardens on my deck. I used some heirloom varieties. This has really shocked me and made me realize I need to DO something! Thank you for sharing.
‘ve heard that even some Burpee seeds are Monsanto GMO’s… I buy all my Heirloom seeds and organic seeds from trusted sources and will be saving my own this year!
I wasn’t sure so I went hunting and thought I’d share: here’s a list, directly from the Monsanto website, of the brand names they sell under: http://www.monsanto.com/products/Pages/monsanto-product-brands.aspx
I always plant heirloom varieties in my garden. I know that’s a
small thing to do but if everyone did it might a difference.
If everyone did what they could do in their particular unique situation that would be enough.
We also plant heirloom seeds in our gardens. We’re still working on getting all of our plants moved outdoors. Should have everything out this weekend. Homegrown, heirloom plants/fruits/food taste so much better than what you get at the store. Just no comparison. We live in rural Iowa and often drive out in the country for something to do…there are so many homesteads which don’t have gardens…makes me so sad. How can you live out in the country and not have a garden? I guess they’d rather mow 5 acres than plant a 10×10 garden…
Donated! Thanks for letting me know about this opportunity.
Buy, grow and save heirloom seed!
AMEN! My garden expanded to 30 varieties of heirloom vegetables this year.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (www.rareseeds.com) and D. Landreth Seed Company (www.landrethseeds.com) sell ONLY heirloom varieties; Johnny’s Select Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com) sells many heirlooms and organics.
This is absolutely heartbreaking! Thank you Sarah for putting this critical information out to your readers.
Control the food supply and you control the world. :/
That is appalling!!!
I am so tired and discouraged. What front to do you choose to fight on when you are being assaulted on every single side?
Stay positive, smile and be happy as anything can happen and frequently does!!! 🙂
Just work for the best outcome and know that everything is exactly as it should be right now. Life can turn on a dime.