Beer made from barley grains has been consumed since ancient Egyptian times. Modern day growers plant what is profitable – and grains for malting barley command higher prices than animal feed grains. […]
Every year when I plant my garden, I feel a tinge of doubt. Shaking out lettuce seeds from the packet, they seem hard and lifeless. I drop the seeds into a trench […]
Seeds come in different sizes and shapes across plant species. They range from dust-sized seeds in orchids to double coconut Lodoicea (yes, coconuts are seeds!). Depending on geographical location and the prevailing […]
Think about all the animals at the zoo. Even though the elephant looks drastically different from the eagle, they each share common functions for survival. Including humans, all animals (with few exceptions) […]
Whether you garden, farm, research plants, or develop new plant varieties, healthy seeds are critical to your success. Seeds are also big business. In 2018, global seed exports were worth more than […]
For millennia, people have understood the need to protect seeds. They are precious packets of life that bring us food. As early as 2000 BC, there are records of people soaking seeds […]
On March 11, 2011, Japan experienced the unprecedented Tohoku earthquake. It was the largest in Japan’s history, and created a massive tsunami that impacted Japan’s northeastern coast. A result of the earthquake […]
The United Nations (U.N.) declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health. This sent a powerful message to the world: Plants are life. Sadly, the COVID-19 crisis changed a lot of 2020 […]
Most plant-based foods we eat today are a product of innovative plant breeding programs. Careful choice of plant parents is followed by a multitude of intentional, hand-pollinated blooms. These result in thousands […]
Flaxseed is one of humanity’s oldest, and most widely adopted multi-use crops. For over ten thousand years, the oil-rich seeds have been an important source of nutrition for both humans and livestock. […]