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People Behind the Seeds: Breeders

Picture
All of our food crops are the result of interaction between plants and humans over millennia. Few exist in the wild. Corn, arguably the greatest achievement in plant breeding, originated with a wild grass carrying a small seedhead like the one at left, with each seed wrapped in a hard case. Native Mexican farmers domesticated that wild grain. By 2500 years ago they had already reshaped it by selection into corn similar to those today.

Today, many farmers, seed-savers, and breeders around the world still work with plants in the traditional way--crossing related varieties and selecting for desirable traits. This ancient process is very different from the laboratory-based processes involved in making GMOs. For a fuller explanation of the terms and issues involved, you can refer to my post here.

The farmers/plant breeders below have given the world new open-pollinated (heirloom-type) varieties. If our agriculture and our food supply are to adapt to  the changing world, continued selection and visionary breeding will be important to our survival.

Jonathan Spero Varieties
Carol Deppe Varieties
Frank Morton Varieties
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  • Home
  • Shop
    • Plant for Summer
    • Vegetable Seeds >
      • Arugula
      • Beans
      • Beets
      • Broccoli and Cima di Rapa
      • Cabbage
      • Carrots & Roots
      • Celery
      • Chard
      • Corn
      • Cucumber
      • Eggplant
      • Fennel
      • Genepools and Landrace Gardening
      • Greens
      • Kale and Collards
      • Lettuce
      • Melons
      • Oil Crops
      • Okra
      • Open-Source Seeds (OSSI)
      • Onions and Leeks
      • Peas
      • Peppers
      • Spinach
      • Squash & Pumpkins
      • Sunflowers
      • Tomatoes
      • Tomatillos/Husk Cherries
      • Turnips and Rutabagas
      • Winter and Greenhouse Vegetables
    • Perennial Vegetable Seeds >
      • About Perennial Vegetables
    • Flower Seeds
    • Herb Seeds >
      • Medicinal and Historic Herbs
      • Culinary Herbs (and teas)
      • Herb Collections
    • Seed Collections
    • Pollinator and Pest Control Plants >
      • Pollinator and Pest Control Mixes
      • Plants for Pollinators
    • Grains >
      • Heirloom Wheat Barley Oats & Rye
      • Gluten-Free Grains
    • Cover Crops >
      • Cover Crop Mixes
      • Cover Crops that are Food Crops
      • Decorative Cover Crops
    • Open Source (OSSI)
    • New for 2025
    • Plant for Spring >
      • Spring Vegetables
      • Spring Herbs & Flowers
      • Spring Grains
      • Seeds that Need Winter Cold
      • Fast, Fresh Food
    • Plant for Fall >
      • Fall Vegetables
      • ltalian Fall Specialties
      • Herbs and Flowers for Fall
      • Fall Salad Greens
    • Start these Indoors
    • People behind the Seeds >
      • Carol Deppe Varieties
      • Jonathan Spero Varieties
      • Frank Morton Varieties
    • Companion Plants
    • Recipes >
      • Spring Recipes: Fresh Flavors of the Season
      • Tomato Recipes
      • Preserving and Fermenting
    • Mid-to-Late Summer Sowings
  • About Us.
    • Our Story
    • Shipping Info
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • HOW-TO