Seeds of Time

Earth Day screening of Seeds of Time at New York Botanical Garden. Seeds of Time follows agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler's global journey to preserving biodiversity in agricultural crops along with climate change. We were fortunate to hear Cary Fowler & Sandy Mcleod’s discussion after the film screening. They talked about one of challenges being that heirloom seed varieties & botanical domestic seeds varieties importance to be saved to in order to preserve for future crops and food for future generation. They also hope for a strong support for science research program to be continued.

A perfect storm is brewing as agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler races against time to protect the future of our food. Seed banks around the world are crumbling, crop failures are producing starvation and rioting, and the accelerating effects of climate change are affecting farmers globally. Communities of indigenous Peruvian farmers are already suffering those effects, as they try desperately to save over 1,500 varieties of native potato in their fields. But with little time to waste, both Fowler and the farmers embark on passionate and personal journeys that may save the one resource we cannot live without: our seeds.

10,000 years ago the biggest revolution in human history occurred: we became agrarians. We ceased merely hunting and gathering and began to farm, breeding and domesticating plants that have resulted in the crops we eat today. But the genetic diversity of these domesticated crops, which were developed over millennium, is vanishing today. And the consequences of this loss could be dire.