What are they going for here? (POSSIBLE SCAM)

[chickened]

I think you mean human GMO seed.

Quote:

 

[mom'sfolly]

Lets put it in chicken terms folks.

Rhode Islands Reds and old English game bantams are both chickens, they are the same species. However, they are distinct and different strains. If you breed a RIR and and OEGB you will still have a chicken, what you won't have is either a RIR or an OEGB. Both of these types of chickens were bred for a specific purpose and even a specific climate. Cross breeding them looses the desirable traits they were bred for. They are not considered hybrids, and they breed true. It you continued to cross the OEGB and RIR, select of certain traits, and keep breeding the traits until they breed true, you could develop a new strain of chicken. Lots of people on this forum are doing the same thing, usually within a breed, to get desired characteristics.

Many plant and animal strains are becoming extinct: fact! The reason they are becoming extinct is not because they don't have desirable traits, it is because those traits are not valued in the modern marketplace or modern agriculture. Shipability in fruits and veggies is valued over flavor or other traits. Cider is not a daily beverage anymore, so many good cider varieties of apples have fallen out of favor. People demand lean pork and no longer use lard daily, so certain strains of pig are no longer popular. Losing the genes in those agriculture varieties is not only tragic, it could be deadly as we move into more and more mono-cultural crops. Read about what modern strains of rice is doing in India, as opposed to traditional strains of rice. Read about the problems caused by the green revolution and crop failures of mono-cultures.

The numbers of species of food plants that people eat has been falling for the last hundred years. Many of the plants and strains are actually nutritionally far better than some of the more common varieties of food plants.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Quote:
They are no longer considered "hybirds" once they will consistantly reproduce true

Original "strains" are not hybrids. Not at all. Bear Foot Farm is right. Additionally, most plants we have today are selectively bred from within the same species or variety. That does not make them a hybrid. Maize has been selectively bred for hundred of years to give us the corn we have today. However, that does NOT make them hybrids. Taken from dictionary.com:

Hybrid - the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics.

Yes, some of the plants we grow ARE hybrids, but the process of going from wild-type to domestic plant is not through hybridization. However, we may use hybridization to get, for example, different color corn, different color flowers, different size cucumbers, etc. Hybrid does NOT mean crossing of the pollen from one plant and the eggs from another within the same species or variety.

I also want to add that I think they are using the term open pollination incorrectly. Open pollination just means that plants are pollintated without the help of human hands. Pollination occurs through water, wind, birds, insects, lizards, etc. Yes, hybridization CAN occur, but often times plants have mechanisms to avoid this. It is rare to find hybridized plants in nature, even though open pollination occurs. It usually occurs in the garden because people don't space out the their plants correctly or they grow plants that are too closely related. Open pollination really has nothing to do with whether or not a plant is a hybrid.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Quote:

Yes. GMO does not refer to a hybrid. However, it can refer to genetically modified through selective breeding OR through laboratory manipulation. Most all vegetables and fruits we eat today have been genetically modified. People seem to be afraid of the term though because they've ccome to associate it with lab manipulation.

 

[Amyable]

mom'sfolly :

Lets put it in chicken terms folks.

Rhode Islands Reds and old English game bantams are both chickens, they are the same species. However, they are distinct and different strains. If you breed a RIR and and OEGB you will still have a chicken, what you won't have is either a RIR or an OEGB. Both of these types of chickens were bred for a specific purpose and even a specific climate. Cross breeding them looses the desirable traits they were bred for. They are not considered hybrids, and they breed true. It you continued to cross the OEGB and RIR, select of certain traits, and keep breeding the traits until they breed true, you could develop a new strain of chicken. Lots of people on this forum are doing the same thing, usually within a breed, to get desired characteristics.

Many plant and animal strains are becoming extinct: fact! The reason they are becoming extinct is not because they don't have desirable traits, it is because those traits are not valued in the modern marketplace or modern agriculture. Shipability in fruits and veggies is valued over flavor or other traits. Cider is not a daily beverage anymore, so many good cider varieties of apples have fallen out of favor. People demand lean pork and no longer use lard daily, so certain strains of pig are no longer popular. Losing the genes in those agriculture varieties is not only tragic, it could be deadly as we move into more and more mono-cultural crops. Read about what modern strains of rice is doing in India, as opposed to traditional strains of rice. Read about the problems caused by the green revolution and crop failures of mono-cultures.

The numbers of species of food plants that people eat has been falling for the last hundred years. Many of the plants and strains are actually nutritionally far better than some of the more common varieties of food plants.

Thank you, I was going to make the same analogy.
I would put the blandest heirloom tomato in my garden up against any standard supermarket tomato, and win hands down for flavor. But I could not ship that tomato to California and expect a good outcome. There is a place for both modern hybrids food plants AND heirloom varieties. Heirlooms are perfectly suited to home gardens, farmers markets, and restaurant gardens.​

 

[chickened]

Look at it this way if the government said GMO seeds cured cancer the pendulum would quickly swing the other way. The Ancient Greeks were known for thier constant swaying with new knowledge.