seeds

ICARDA lab employee Bilal Inaty cuts a lentil plant in order to test it for various diseases at the ICARDA research station in the village of Terbol in Lebanon's Bekaa valley, on Dec. 21, 2022.

How ancient seeds from the Fertile Crescent could help save us from climate change

10:30am January 25, 2023

Some of the tens of thousands of seeds stored at a facility in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley may hold keys to helping the planet's food supply adapt to climate change. Many seeds were saved from Syria's war.

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Ietef "DJ Cavem Moetavation" Vita plants seeds with daughter Libya LeaDonvita in the garden at their home outside Denver. Vita is among a growing list of Black gardening enthusiasts-turned-entrepreneurs across the country who've launched seed businesses d

Black Entrepreneurs Sow Seeds Of Healthier Eating During Pandemic Gardening Boom

7:29am May 19, 2021

by Chandra Thomas Whitfield

Denver-based rapper DJ Cavem Moetavation started pushing beats and beets by distributing free seeds. Black-owned companies like his are trying to encourage more people of color to grow their own food.

Seed companies are seeing historic levels of demand this year from home gardeners and commercial farmers, and they're having a hard time keeping up.

Suppliers Field Growing Demand For Seeds From Pandemic Gardeners

7:26am February 05, 2021

by Dana Cronin

Many people stuck at home during the pandemic turned to gardening for the first time. The unexpected spike in demand has seed suppliers struggling to keep up.

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Glass Gem corn is bred specifically for its beauty.

National

Glass Gem Corn: Poster Child For The Return To Heirloom Seeds

7:46pm November 25, 2019

by Melissa Sevigny

An Oklahoma man exploring his Cherokee roots discovered a forgotten variety of corn and revived it with help of heirloom seed savers. The revived Glass Gem corn now has 19,000 Facebook followers.

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Cherokee Nation Cultural Biologist Feather Smith-Trevino holds an unripe Georgia Candy Roaster Squash at an educational garden in Tahlequah, Okla., where traditional native plants are grown.

National

How A Seed Bank Helps Preserve Cherokee Culture Through Traditional Foods

11:32am April 02, 2019

by Tove Danovich

The seeds are free for any Cherokee, but recipients have been limited because demand is so high. Collecting the seeds has been difficult and emotional, but the program has helped unify the community.

Brent Henderson harvests soybeans on his farm near Weona, Ark., in 2017. That crop showed symptoms of dicamba exposure. Henderson switched to Xtend soybeans the following year, he says, as "insurance" against future damage.

National

Is Fear Driving Sales Of Monsanto's Dicamba-Proof Soybeans?

11:34am February 07, 2019

by Dan Charles

Some farmers say they're buying a popular new soybean seed partly because they're afraid of crop damage from herbicide drift. A new lawsuit claims the seed maker is violating antitrust laws.

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Warmer temperatures are making canola and possibly other brassica seedpods open too early, reducing crop yields.

What Canola Can Tell Us About Crops And Climate Change

12:01pm February 12, 2018

by Angus Chen

When canola seedpods shatter prematurely, farmers can lose a lot of their crop. Scientists have now figured out how this happens, and it has implications for similar crops facing global warming.

The hurricane knocked out power to millions and destroyed water infrastructure. It also tore up plants across the island, washed soil off fields and knocked down fences.

Puerto Rico's Hurricane Recovery Hinders Farm Businesses' Seed Research

4:32pm November 29, 2017

by Amy Mayer

Many agriculture companies rely on the island's climate for the research and development of commercial corn, soybean and other seeds grown in the U.S. But the storm wiped out needed infrastructure.

Scott Deeter, president and CEO of Ventria Bioscience, says that Chinese theft of his technology could have driven him out of business.

Spies In The Field: As Farming Goes High-Tech, Espionage Threat Grows

2:34pm June 08, 2017

by Bryan Thompson

Recent cases involving Chinese nationals conspiring to steal trade secrets — from gene-spliced rice to corn seed — have highlighted the risk of intellectual property theft from U.S. companies.

This 1-year-old is part of the mountain gorilla population in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

World News

How Hybrid Seeds Could Help The Mountain Gorillas Of Congo

4:08pm September 27, 2016

by Amy Yee

Farmers are planting in Virunga National Park. That means less food, water and shelter for the endangered great apes that live there.