Amid Commercial Hybrids: Why Farmers Still “Have Seed”?

Seeds are the vital carriers for the continuation of plant species. Human survival and flourishing are equally inseparable from them; every food we eat, whether grains, flours, oils or vegetables and fruits, begins as a tiny seed. Different seeds yield crops with distinctly different flavours. The reason we can no longer taste the ‘vanished flavours of childhood’ in today’s sweetcorn, watermelons and tomatoes is likely the result of successive seed replacements. Traditional landraces, deeply rooted in their local environments and refined over generations through natural or human selection, simply offer a richer taste.

So why have these traditional varieties gradually faded from view? For seeds that humanity relies upon for survival, perhaps we know far less than we realise.

In the second half of the twentieth century, amid population growth and mounting food pressures, a global agricultural transformation centred on ‘high yield’ took hold. New varieties, spearheaded by hybrid rice and hybrid maize, were rapidly adopted, far outperforming traditional landraces in yield per hectare, crop uniformity and disease resistance. In China, the widespread adoption of hybrid rice nearly doubled harvests and was hailed as a crucial technological breakthrough to secure basic sustenance. For farmers, opting for high-yielding, stable, and easy-to-manage varieties promised quick returns; for nations, it served as a cornerstone of food security.

Yet this pursuit of high yield has quietly reshaped the fate of seeds. Hybrid varieties typically must be repurchased each season, making seed saving impractical; adaptability became standardised, pushing local terroir into the background. Within a system that prioritised output above all else, slower-growing, lower-yielding traditional varieties—despite their distinctive flavours and deep adaptation to local conditions—were dismissed as ‘uneconomical’ and ‘outdated’. Within just a few decades, they vanished from both fields and dinner tables. We may be better fed today, but we have also unknowingly grown to eat a diet of increasing sameness.

As a fundamental agricultural input for humanity, seeds touch upon food security, legal frameworks, biodiversity, farmers’ livelihoods, and food safety. From a single grain of rice to complex genetic engineering, seeds are far more intricate than we realise.

This episode of the podcast was recorded remotely with friends from far and wide. Through sound, we hope to take you on a journey following seeds from Thailand to Qiandongnan, and from Baoding in Hebei to the Philippines. Whoever decides what we sow dictates what we eat. Immerse yourself in the story of seeds. It is the history of agriculture, and a choice for the future.

We actually have quite a few questions about seeds:

• Why did traditional varieties vanish so rapidly over just a few decades?

• How have commercial hybrids altered farmers’ crop choices, and how has this impacted our everyday diets?

• Why did Filipino farmers take the creators of the new ‘Golden Rice‘ variety to court?

• Why do some argue that ‘protecting heritage seeds means protecting humanity’?

• Is there still hope for reviving traditional seeds within today’s food system?

If these topics resonate with you, we invite you to listen to this candid conversation about land, food, biodiversity, and the question of ‘who owns the means of production’. May every seed be recognised, and may the freedom to choose what to sow and what to eat remain intact.

EPISODE GUESTS

Chen Xi

Based at Zhaoxi She in Qiandongnan, Guizhou. Works on ecological agriculture and rural revitalisation in Yangdong Village, maintains a collection of over twenty local rice and grain varieties for seed saving, and runs the Yangdong Children’s Public Welfare Library.

 

 

 

 

Li Guanqi

Farmers’ Seed Network · Head of the Eastern Office. Has long been involved in the on-farm dynamic conservation and advocacy of farmers’ seed varieties across China.

Chen Ziyu

From Wocuiyuan Family Farm in Baoding, Hebei. Managing a 147-mu farm alongside his family, he has preserved 63 heritage varieties passed down from his father and conserved 183 varieties for the Baoding Municipal Seed Station.