Seed Literacy

The article “Sowing the seeds of climate crisis in Odisha” by Chitrangada Choudhury and Aniket Aga outlines the current crisis surrounding Bt cotton seeds (which are genetically modified) and provides an honest, human-centered analysis of the use of these seeds in Odisha, a state in Eastern India, discussing the implications for the people who live there, their culture, skills, and the wider climate crisis at hand. Through conversations with various people on all sides of the cotton seed trade, the authors paint a vivid picture of the harsh realities and impacts that genetically modified seed has on the people who use it. Debal Deb, a scientist and conservationist, explains the extreme skill degradation resulting from the increased use of Bt cotton: “As the farm land is entirely allocated for cotton, farmers have to buy all their household necessities from the market… The traditional knowledge of farm-related as well as non-farm occupations are rapidly disappearing. In village after village, there is no potter, no carpenter, no weaver… Bamboos have disappeared from most villages, and with them bamboo craft…”

In a thesis paper written by Ana Maria Zepeda (2020), the author interviews organizers and volunteers across various urban community gardening initiatives in the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan. A key theme that emerged was a sense of frustration at having never learned how to plant seeds and harvesting crops: “Pero porque a nosotros no nos enseñan a sembrar si es lo basico que uno debe sabar.” Why did they not teach us how to sow, if it is the basic thing that one should know to survive? Knowing seeds is necessary to life. Engaging oneself in farming was not only a way for these community members to connect with their food and land, but was also a way to learn necessary skills and practices that had been stripped away from them. When the Spanish — and later, the US Empire — had colonized Puerto Rico, or its Taino name Boriken, they “exploited the island’s natural resources through violent displacement of indigenous people and forced migration of enslaved Africans.” Campesinos were forced to work in terrible conditions, reifying the poverty and stigma associated with farming. With 20th century industrialization, farming practices were replaced by manufacturing, then tourism as the mainstay of the economy. The practice of gardening and farming, then, becomes an anti-colonial act, a mode of resistance, and a way to reclaim the seed literacy and skills intentionally and systemically targeted and depleted by colonial practices.