From gathering apple seeds to protecting global biodiversity

The Irish Seed Savers Association celebrates its 21st birthday this week, writes SYLVIA THOMPSON,and their role is more important than ever

SOMETIMES, the most important work is done far from the seats of power in the capital city and so it is with the Irish Seed Savers’ Association (ISSA), which has been growing and saving seeds in the east Clare countryside for the past 21 years.

To find this important site of activity you must come off the N7 (Dublin-Limerick road) at the exit for Killaloe, cross over the Shannon at the southern edge of Lough Derg and travel along it’s western shores through the pretty villages of Tuamgraney and Scarriff. From there, you travel on for about five kilometres and follow a narrow lane to your right until you see the ISSA buildings, orchards and woodlands on sloped sites on both sides of the road.

It was here that musician Tommy Hayes and his American wife, Anita, moved with their young sons 21 years ago and began saving seeds from apples grown in the orchard behind their cottage. “Anita had been aware of the seed-saving exchange in the United States and had already started saving seeds from apples when they lived in County Cavan,” explains Geraldine Tobin from the ISSA.

Over the years, seeds for different varieties of fruits, vegetables, grains and herbs have been brought here for storage. And now in its 21st year a new building has been built to house the seed collection from 800 heritage vegetables, 48 heritage grains, over 50 varieties of potatoes and 140 varieties of apple trees.

Earlier this year, President Michael D Higgins officially opened the impressive new Seed Bank where the seeds are currently being moved into their new climate-controlled environment. Seeds from this year’s crop are also drying out in large white bags in the light-filled glasshouse-style section of the building. The key to it all is open-pollination (see panel).

Put in a nutshell, seed saving is the practical solution to impending (and, many would say already happening) food crises. It is also a way to prevent loss of biodiversity – which when you consider the consequences of the wide-scale failure of food crops, is much more significant than we are led to believe.

“Most people think of tropical rainforests when they hear about biodiversity loss but agricultural biodiversity is hugely important when you consider 70 per cent of our land is used for agriculture,” explains Jo Newton, the seed bank co-ordinator at ISSA.

“By growing different types of crops that are able to adapt and evolve [to changes in the weather patterns], you can hold onto the genetic elasticity but if everyone is growing, say the same potato, and it fails, this can have devastating consequences,” says Newton.

Historically, the failure of the potato was all the more devastating because almost everyone was growing the same variety. “They were growing the Lumper in the 1800s in Ireland because it is so productive on poor ground, but if people had been growing ten different varieties of potato at the time, some of them would have been blight resistant,” she explains.

She cautions that the same thing can happen all over again as many growers are now relying on a small number of new potato breeds.

On the eight-hectare site at Capparoe, the gardeners plant out all their heritage stocks in rotation, with the aim to let some of them go to seed so that these seeds can then be stored in the seed bank. Over 130 varieties are grown each year and the heritage seeds are packaged (over 30,000 packets were sold in 2010) and sold to visitors and the 1,800 people who support the ISSA through annual membership. The ISSA run a wide range of gardening and craft workshops and demonstrations throughout the year. Clubs and school children also visit the site.

It’s careful, diligent work that requires attention to detail, but the 16 part-time staff are passionate about their work. “The thing is you can hedge your bets with biodiversity. For instance, this summer I’ve heard that some farmers are putting their cattle in barns because the grass is so water-logged they can’t eat it. And, in the United States, the corn crop has failed so there will be less imported cattle food for the winter,” explains Newton.

“But, in the past, farmers would have planted a variety of fodder for their animals. They would have planted fodder rape, fodder kale and beet as well as having grassland.”

Eighty per cent of the varieties of fruit and vegetables have died out in Ireland over the past 100 years or so. But, here at ISSA, valiant efforts are being made to encourage gardeners throughout Ireland to start planting them again. The Department of Agriculture has recently funded a research orchard at Capparoe. Wandering through the orchards, polytunnels and open gardens, you can see the diversity in front of your own eyes.

It’s a huge comfort to know that someone is thinking ahead – teaching us to plant and save our own seeds. But, it’s an aesthetic and cultural experience too – to see orchards with apples of all sizes and textures and common vegetables such as carrots and onions going to seed naturally in their beautiful flowering way.

WHAT IS OPEN POLLINATION?

What are open-pollinated seeds?

Open pollinated or true seeds are seeds which are generated by the plants themselves. Until 50 years ago, all our food came from open-pollinated varieties. Since then, they have largely been replaced by FI hybrids, which are bred to perform well with good yields of uniform crops in controlled conditions (eg use of fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides). However, once conditions aren't ideal, FI hybrids often underperform and die and can't be relied on to adapt to variable conditions. Open pollinated seeds on the other hand, can be re-planted and re-seeded forever. See open-pollinated-seeds.org.ukfor more details.

The Irish Seed Savers Association’s annual Open Day is on Sunday from 11am-5pm. Events include talks by gardening experts, Joy Larkcom, Klaus Laitenberger and Trevor Sargent. Admission €5 for adults; children free. A free shuttle bus to the ISSA at Capparoe will run throughout the day from Scarriff National School.

The Irish Seeds Savers heritage orchards, gardens and native woodlands are open to the public from 9.30am to 5pm Mon to Sat and from 12.30pm to 5pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays