Brent Harris鈥� bean crop relies on 麻豆视频 American seed. He鈥檚 not alone.
Commercial vegetable growers in the province like Harris 鈥� who owns an organic bean, pea, barley and potato farm in Delta, B.C. 鈥� depend on seed from around the world. And despite a pandemic-induced global rush on seed, that might not change.
鈥淭here鈥檚 varieties (that work for us) that are fairly specific in their development. You鈥檝e got to chase down their supply, as they grow only in certain areas,鈥� he said. Often, those areas are thousands of kilometres away.
It鈥檚 a complex supply chain the pandemic made more visible to British Columbians. Packaged seeds were this year, as millions of people made quarantine gardens and seed companies faced a increase in demand.
Last year, B.C. farmers purchased worth of seed from abroad, with the majority coming from the .
That鈥檚 no surprise for . The long-time farmer is pursuing his master's degree at the University of British Columbia with a focus on how larger, commercial organic vegetable growers in the province source their seeds.
鈥淭here clearly is a seed-grower community here that is very unique and points towards having a more robust local food and feed system,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 actually the case.鈥�
Growing seeds is more complicated than cultivating vegetables. Some species need to be isolated, to prevent different varieties from breeding inadvertently, while others, such as kale, take two years to reach maturity and produce seed, or demand specific growing conditions.
That takes space and infrastructure, Thoreau explained 鈥� significant investments that, so far, B.C. seed companies haven鈥檛 been able to make on a large enough scale to supply commercial farms.
鈥淎 farm has much more space to plant, so the volume of seed you need is much higher. Most seed companies don鈥檛 have that volume of seed because they don鈥檛 have that much space (to grow).鈥�
In part, this is because seed growers, like other farmers, are facing high land costs: A hectare of farmland in the Lower Mainland costs around for parcels larger than 16 hectares, and up to $864,500 per hectare for parcels smaller than 2 hectares. For seed growers, this means it鈥檚 only profitable to grow fewer seeds and sell them in packages to gardeners and small farms for a premium price.
Thoreau also noted that small seed producers might not be able to have the same quality control measures in place for their products, exposing farmers to the risk of low yields or crop failure.
鈥淚f a farmer plants half an acre of carrots and has a contract for that carrot seed and it fails, or doesn鈥檛 come true to type or is susceptible to disease, then that farmer is going to pay for that in a big way.鈥�
For a farmer like Harris, who relies on pallet-loads of seed, that means buying seed from as far away as Chile and Argentina, where it is grown on large, seed-specific farms with extensive quality control.
Those farms are part of a global network that鈥檚 coordinated through a few large, mostly U.S.-based seed companies such as , Thoreau explained.
These companies develop seed varieties, then will usually hire seed farmers in seed-producing regions 鈥� Oregon, Italy, France and Tanzania for example 鈥� to grow them. They鈥檙e then processed, checked for quality and shipped to farmers in B.C. and elsewhere.
And while Harris and Thoreau would like to see more local production, they said the system isn鈥檛 all bad. Spreading seed production across several places helps protect the overall supply from crop failures and natural disasters.
鈥淪eed is the easiest way to transport food. It鈥檚 easier to grow seed wherever and ship it wherever, much easier than it is with food,鈥� Thoreau said.
Still, Thoreau hopes to see B.C. start to produce more seed for commercial domestic use 鈥� and export.
That will take time and investment from the provincial and federal governments, he said, but would ultimately benefit farmers in B.C. and elsewhere. 聽
鈥淲e benefit from the global market, so why wouldn鈥檛 we send seed back and really build this global community?鈥�
