September 21, 1999

Seed varieties becoming extinct

By DAVID BRISCOE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- With thousands of plant species nearing extinction, the world's farmers are losing valuable crop alternatives. In the United States, more than 80 percent of seed varieties sold a century ago no longer are available, according to a report released Saturday.

Even crops that may not be producing or seem undesirable could one day help fight against human disease, develop more-resistant varieties or respond to future conditions, said Worldwatch Institute researcher John Tuxill, the report's author.

The report says more plant species are threatened in the United States than any other country -- 4,669, or 29 percent of all varieties. Next is Australia with 2,245 species threatened, followed by South Africa with 2,215.

Worldwide, more than 30,000 plant species are threatened.

The report echoes long-held concerns about dwindling plants in nature and says a decline in cultivated varieties is a serious loss for agriculture.

While genetic engineering in agriculture is on the rise, with farmers around the globe planting three times as much land in "transgenic" crops this year as last, some natural varieties have disappeared forever, Tuxill said.

"Although we have achieved unprecedented skill in moving genes around, only nature can manufacture them," he said in the report, "Nature's Cornucopia: Our Stake in Plant Diversity."

"If a plant bearing a unique genetic trait disappears, there is no way to get it back," Tuxill said in an interview. "And you never know what's going to be useful down the road."

The genetic resistance of some U.S. high-yield wheat, for example, came from a seed collected in Turkey that was being rejected by local farmers in favor of more attractive varieties, Tuxill said.

It is not just obscure plant types that are disappearing, the report says in describing problems around the globe. Varieties of common crops also are on the decline:

• Less than 20 percent of vegetable seed varieties listed in a 1904 U.S. national inventory are available commercially today.
• China has lost nearly 90 percent of its traditional wheat varieties since World War II.
• Mexican farmers are raising only 20 percent of the corn varieties cultivated in the 1930s.
• Heavy commercial demand in various regions is depleting varieties of wild plants used for medicinal and other purposes.

Many governments and organizations are addressing the problem, Tuxill said.

One grassroots approach is the Seed Bank Exchange of Decorah, Iowa, which has 12,000 farmer and gardener members around the United States who share seeds.

Since the nonprofit association published its first catalogue of seeds available commercially nationwide in 1987, it has seen 1,059 disappear, said Aaron Whealy, who runs part of the operation.

But, with effort by its members to share heirloom varieties and private collections, in the same period it added 1,889 varieties, he said.

Newly cultivated or recultivated seeds available next year will be the Mexico Midget Cherry Tomato, the Hollybrook Lucious Cantaloupe and Pikes Peak Squash.

The bank maintains 20,000 vegetable seed varieties and actually grows 2,000 of those each year for seed production and sale. That compares to an estimated 5,000 varieties available through commerical seed outlets.

But just saving seeds is not enough, said Tuxill. Some plants, including potatoes and bananas, have to be continuously propagated to survive or require that tissue samples be preserved.

More innovative efforts by governments, scientists, farmers and others are needed to manage and protect all plant species, he said.

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