Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
What does 'F1' mean?
The 'F' in F1 stands for 'filial generation' and the '1' stands for 'first generation',
so an F1 is a hybrid cross between two parent varieties in order to produce a plant
that has some characteristics of both.
Today, F1 varieties are created primarily to serve the demands of the agricultural
industry, which provides almost all the food found in the vegetable and fruit
sections of our local supermarkets. So the supermarkets and farmers tell the
agricultural industry what they want, and they go and create it.
Unfortunately, what the supermarkets want is for all the examples of a particular
variety of fruit or vegetable to be of a uniform size; for them to be tough enough
to ship far and wide without damage; and for them to have as long a shelf life as
possible. Farmers need the whole crop to ripen at the same time, making the
process of harvesting more efficient and freeing the growing area for the next
planting. The seed merchants then have the job of selling these same seeds to the
public, dressing them up as the latest, the biggest and the best - whereas in reality
flavour, a long cropping season and nutritional value have all become secondary
concerns. Even disease resistance is not always a primary concern for non-
organic varieties, because when they are grown commercially the plants will be
routinely sprayed with pesticide.
But, in fact, the biggest problem for the home gardener is something less obvious:
you can't save seed from F1 varieties, because the resulting plants will be a jumbled
selection of the characteristics of the previous cultivars - assuming they germi-
nate at all.
There are good reasons for growing non-hybrid, 'open-pollinated' varieties
instead. Open-pollinated means that the plants propagate through pollination
by insects, birds or wind, and the resulting seeds will be true to type with only
minor variations. Open-pollinated varieties also demonstrate the other charac-
teristics so valuable to the home gardener: long cropping seasons, great flavours,
disease resistance and high nutritional value. And, last but definitely not least,
genetic diversity - and therefore the ability to gradually adapt to the local condi-
tions in your garden.
Roughly 3 per cent of the seeds and fruits that were around in the year 1900 are
still available. The rest have quietly vanished.
This has happened because under EU law it is illegal to sell seeds of varieties that
do not feature in the EU Common Catalogue, which is made up of national lists
compiled by member states. Getting varieties on to the list is sufficiently expen-
sive and complex to rule out amateur growers, so once big business is finished
with a variety, it is removed.
 
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